Tag Archives: Speaker

Bay Area, San Francisco

San Francisco Politics

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Yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle had a lengthy Ed Epstein piece on Speaker Pelosi marking 20 years in the house following her contentious special election victory over Harry Britt. Over the years, San Francisco politics have proven an effective training ground to allow the people we elect to excel. Feinstein is a powerhouse, Willie Brown was Da Speaker, the Burton brothers were titans in Sacramento and DC, Migden chairs the senate Caucus, Leno chairs Appropriations. If you can make here politically, you really can make it anywhere.

And if you want to see what I’m talking about, read Chris Daly’s op-ed at the Fog City Journal on the current budget battle. Making great use of the medium with literally dozens of links (going back to 1998), the Supervisor shows how San Francisco politics is fought in the trenches. And remember, all of this is over one half of one percent of the SF budget.

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Isolated from the Movement? Speaker Nunez takes the Easy Way Out, endorses HRC

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Well, straight from the horses’ mouth you can get the Speaker’s endorsement of Sen. Clinton for President.  Personally, I think the Speaker is making a mistake in two ways here. One, it’s early, sure HRC is leading now, but her lead is strongest amongst low-information voters.  As people discover that they have some good choices, they will move away from her.

Two, HRC is lacking in support from the grassroots.  This endorsement won’t help that. Obama got 10,000 to pack into Frank Ogawa plaza, and Edwards has connected recently with the grassroots.  And Bill Richardson, the resume candidate, is still out there, waiting for somebody to falter. HRC refuses to admit that she was wrong to vote Yes for Iraq, and that will be her albatross as the war gets even worse.

To me, this endorsement gives a big middle finger to the grassroots and especially the netroots.  So, will it work? Ultimately, I doubt quite seriously that this changes more than a handful of votes. Frankly, is the Nunez base really going to drift to HRC because he says she is qualified? I’m of the opinion that these endorsements are more inside baseball than anything else.  If she wins, maybe such an early endorsement from Nunez gets him a swank job if the term limits deal goes down.

Finally, the Speaker talks about the chance to make history, and I don’t deny that. But, you know what, we have a lot of ways to make history. We can make history by identity politics, and HRC isn’t the only one who can play that game.  But we can also make history by winning with real ideas, real leadership, and I’m just not convinced that HRC is the right choice there.