Nancy Pelosi, Woman of the People

No, you didn't misread the title of this entry. But you might misinterpret what I mean by it.

Recently, it came out that Nancy Pelosi will be having four days of events celebrating her becoming the first female Speaker of the House, pending the actual vote count formality that will happen in January. There will be some by-invitation-only events and Tony Bennett will sing for Madame Speaker (with "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" being allegedly scratched from the playlist).

But remember one of Madame Speaker's things she wanted to do in the first 100 hours of her reign: write rules to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation." Yet, on the second day of her celebration, she will be having tea with 400 women politicians and activists. Then, after she's voted in as Speaker of the House, she's holding an invitation-only "People's House" function at her offices, which I'm sure will be attended by well-heeled people in DC.

I could be wrong on that, and I'll apologize if I am, but I don't think I am. I understand how Washington politics works. Whenever someone rises to power like Pelosi did, it isn't because that person is the best one for the job. Behind every successful politician is a group of people who will be expecting favors in return, and Pelosi is no exception. And now that she has leverage, these same people will be expecting payback for the support they've given her in the past.

And what better way to show one's appreciation than to throw exclusive events, thus making those people fortunate enough to score invitations look and feel like real power brokers?

Clearly, Nancy Pelosi is a woman of the people. The question I have is which people.