A Woman Unafraid, A Voice that Won’t Be Silenced

The most powerful woman in US politics for the past two years, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a woman unafraid.
After becoming one of the most vilified women in history since Eve and demonized, even by members of her own party, during the 2010 midterm elections, Nancy Pelosi has announced that she will be running for the position of House Minority Leader. And whether you do or don’t like her style or agree with her political stances, women everywhere should applaud her courage and strength of conviction.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is not one to run from her accomplishments or it seems, a good political fight. In her letter to house Democrats she wrote:
Dear Democratic Colleague:
Over the past several days, I have spoken with many Democratic colleagues about how to continue our fight to make our country more secure and strengthen the middle class, create jobs, protect Social Security and Medicare, and promote the innovation, technology and education to make America Number One in the world. As always, I am inspired by the fighting spirit of our Democratic Members.
As you know, Democrats have produced historic legislation in the area of health care, veterans’ benefits, women’s rights, Wall Street reform, and cutting taxes for 95 percent of the American people and millions of small businesses. And we have restored fiscal discipline to the Congress by making the deficit-cutting Pay As You Go rules the law of the land.
These accomplishments have begun the difficult work of recovering from the worst economic collapse since the 1930s and, according to independent reviews, prevented our country from plunging into another Great Depression. As a result, numerous congressional experts call this the most productive Congress in a half-century. This was only possible because our members had the courage of their convictions and put the interests of the country first.
Our work is far from finished. As a result of Tuesday’s election, the role of Democrats in the 112th Congress will change, but our commitment to serving the American people will not. We have no intention of allowing our great achievements to be rolled back. It is my hope that we can work in a bipartisan way to create jobs and strengthen the middle class.
Many of our colleagues have called with their recommendations on how to continue our fight for the middle class and have encouraged me to run for House Democratic Leader. Based on those discussions, and driven by the urgency of protecting health care reform, Wall Street reform, and Social Security and Medicare, I have decided to run.
I am writing to respectfully request your support and I look forward to hearing your views. Please let me know what you are thinking.
Thank you for your leadership and friendship.
Best wishes,
Nancy Pelos
As Russell Berman and Michael O’Brien reported for the blog The Hill:
“Though deeply unpopular with the broader public, Pelosi remains well-regarded in a caucus that will lean more liberal after the more conservative Blue Dog Coalition was decimated in the midterms.
Outside liberal groups are already organizing support for Pelosi. Americans United for Change launched an email campaign on Friday encouraging supporters to “send a personal note to Speaker Pelosi about how much you appreciate her leadership,” and to “make sure she knows that we still support her.”
The liberal website Daily Kos started a similar online petition.
‘Democrats lost because they didn’t fight hard enough for popular progressive reforms in the last two years. The Democratic leader least culpable of doing that is Nancy Pelosi,’ the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Adam Green, said in an interview before Pelosi’s announcement. ‘She’s the last person among Democratic Party leaders who should step down.’
After the Pelosi tweet, Green called her decision ‘the first bold move we’ve seen from Democrats since the election.‘”
And as Political Voices of Women Contributing Editor, Jill Miller Zimon wrote on her blog “Writes Like She Talks“:
“There is a serious backlash about to be felt if those on the Hill do not realize that with women barely making gains, if any, at the federal level, and losing at the state legislatures, women will dig in and retrench and be back. And those who are already in positions that can be leveraged for leadership are seeking and should be expected to seek more and more visible roles to show that we don’t fade.”
.
Nancy Pelosi has clearly demonstrated that she is not about to fade. After all, someone has to fight off all of those mama grizzlies

