ArticlesApril 2, 20201 min read

Crucial role

Sam Webb

Just watched Nancy Pelosi on Morning Joe. She was impressive and the contrast with the occupant in the White House couldn’t have been starker.

That Trump, McConnell, and the Republican right have a special and vile animus toward her is understandable. But the ill feeling directed at her on our side of the political spectrum is less easy to explain. Even where she isn’t harshly criticized, she’s damned with faint praise or dismissed as not a blue dog.

Such characterizations strike me as examples of “not seeing the forest for the trees,” insofar as they fail to mention, forget about acknowledging, Pelosi’s crucial role in unifying Democrats and the larger movement against Trump since his election, not least at this moment. All of which makes me wonder if her critics’ commitment to popular front politics is anything more than a rhetorical gesture. The substance, after all, is awol.

Written by

Sam Webb

I'm a long-time socialist and activist, but new to the blogging world. I hope to bring a different perspective on politics, sports, culture, and Marxism. Besides blogging, I also leave plenty of time for swimming, hiking, ESPN, music, reading, drinking good beer, and, not least, my family and friends. I wish I could play basketball, but my knees ruled out that possibility long ago. While I currently reside in New York, my politically formative years were spent in Portland, Me. and Detroit during the 1970s and 1980s. I graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia (where I played basketball) and received a MA in economics from the University of Connecticut. I was the national chairperson of the Communist Party, USA from 2000 until 2014 when I stepped down at the convention. In 2016 I resigned from the Communist Party two years later. We were no longer on the same page.

Crucial role

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