The poor schmo who would do anything to follow Nancy Pelosi as House speaker is her opposite in ways that have nothing to do with ideology: In his lack of consistency, lack of discipline and lack of courage, Rep. Kevin McCarthy falls so far short of his fellow Californian’s standards that it feels silly to even compare the two. No wonder he couldn’t bring himself to show up and listen to her gorgeously patriotic Thursday resignation speech.
Pelosi, who at 82 is stepping down from leading the House Democrats after two decades, has all of the traits that our most powerful public servants typically share, including an unusually hardy constitution and work ethic and high tolerance for political pain.
But the first female speaker, and the first speaker to grab the gavel a second time since Sam Rayburn did so in 1955, is also singular: Without her, there would have been no Affordable Care Act. Without her, would there be even one politician who never curses, in either public or private?
