Pelosi, Reid May Have Passed Their Sell-By Date: Albert R. Hunt

[Purveyor]

Commentary by Albert R. Hunt

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Republicans, after picking up 61 House seats, six Senate spots, seven new governorships and 680 additional state legislators, received two more gifts: Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

In U.S. elections where voters expressed disapproval with Washington, the decision of the House speaker to remain as the Democratic leader of the minority, following Senate Majority Leader Reid’s re-election in Nevada, means that the face of the congressional party will continue to be yesterday. After Pelosi’s surprise announcement Nov. 5, Republicans were jubilant. Leading Democratic strategists were despondent.

Before her announcement, several House Democrats who barely survived the Nov. 2 elections said it would be a mistake for Pelosi to stay on as leader.

“A change in leadership,” Democratic Representative Joe Donnelly of Indiana said, is necessary “to reflect the desires of the millions of people who cast votes in this recent election.” Only with new leadership, said Representative Larry Kissell of North Carolina, can House Democrats “become a national party again.”

Pelosi, 70, will prevail in a decidedly liberal caucus where many of her supporters won easily in Democratic districts. The heaviest losses, said Representative Jason Altmire, a Pennsylvania Democrat who won his re-election contest 51 percent to 49 percent, were among “the moderates and the conservatives who as a group would have voted against her.”

More...

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601010&sid=aJLFTnmT0n4c

[emulatorloo]

1. It isn't up to Albert R. Hunt.

[monmouth]

2. Sorry Al, I think you have that backwards, you would be the one with

an overdue removal from the shelf..

[emulatorloo]

3. Just found out he's married to Judy Woodruff. When she had her show on CNN

I had a saying about her interviews.

Treat all things a Republican says with "Wide-Eyed Wonder"
Treat all things a Democrat says with "Steely-Eyed Skepticism and Disdain"

[Cassandra]

4. Naturally, Donnelly is a Blue Dog.

What's Kissell's excuse?

[GeorgeGist]

5. Mr. Hunt needs to check the label ...

Pelosi did her job. It's Obama and Reid who sold out.

[Ozymanithrax]

6. To reflect the desires of the millions of people who cast votes in this recent election

Then shouldn't the Democrats in the House select Michele Bachman as the Minority leader?