Forget formalities. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the GOAT.
The 55th individual and the first woman to serve as speaker of the House of Representatives, second in line to the presidency, Pelosi might have an equal among the other speakers in American history — perhaps Sam Rayburn in the mid-20th century or Henry Clay in the 19th — but none were better. In my book, she is the greatest of all time.
As a former congressional reporter, I can speak personally to the records of eight of those 55 speakers, four Democrats and four Republicans, back to the estimable Massachusetts Rep. Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill in the Reagan era. I’m hardly alone, however, in counting Pelosi as the best of that bunch. Two Democratic presidents credit her with their legislative successes; two Republican presidents were repeatedly foiled by her.
