What Will Be the Impact of Nancy Pelosi's Reign in the House?

Confident and self-assured, Nancy Pelosi made her debut this week as Speaker of the House by painting herself as a "Grandma from Baltimore", and inviting childen to come up and touch her gavel. She was elected on a platform of "ending corruption and partisanship" in Congress - and her acceptance speech echoed these premises.

This is quite ironic, for Nancy is well known to be one of the most rugged supporters of the old partisan mentality in Congress! Can she truly transform into a politician interested in working together with the Republicans to achieve goals in the best interest of America?

Her agenda is clearly stated in her blog post of November, 2006:

" If you honor Democratic candidates with your vote today, in the first hundred hours of a Democratic Congress: We will restore civility, integrity, and fiscal responsibility to the House of Representatives. We will start by cleaning up Congress, breaking the link between lobbyists and legislation and commit to pay-as-you-go, no new deficit spending.

We will make our nation safer and we will begin by implementing the recommendations of the independent, bipartisan 9/11 Commission.

We will make our economy fairer, and we will begin by raising the minimum wage. We will not pass a pay raise for Congress until there is an increase in the minimum wage.

We will make health care more affordable for all Americans, and we will begin by fixing the Medicare prescription drug program, putting seniors first by negotiating lower drug prices. We will also promote stem cell research to offer real hope to the millions of American families who suffer from devastating diseases.

We will broaden college opportunity, and we will begin by cutting interest rates for student loans in half.

We will energize America by achieving energy independence, and we will begin by rolling back the multi-billion dollar subsidies for Big Oil.

We will guarantee a dignified retirement, and we will begin by fighting any attempt to privatize Social Security."