Anderson Cooper asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Tuesday who the leader of the Democratic Party is. Despite the fact she has leader in her title and the party just elected a new Democratic National Committee chairman in Tom Perez, Pelosi dug deeper into the past.
She picked two people who are retired from politics.
Cooper: ‘Who is the leader of the Democratic Party right now?’
Pelosi: ‘Well, President Obama was president of the United States until just a matter of a weeks ago. I don’t think he can be dismissed as the leader of the Democratic Party.’
‘Hillary Clinton did not win the election, but a respected leader.’
.@NancyPelosi: "I am not thinking of 2020. I am thinking of 2018 … the first referendum on Donald Trump" https://t.co/31iOVtI4MD
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) March 22, 2017
I believe the technical term for that is weak sauce. A former president who is in Tahiti for a month and a former candidate for president who is ready to come out of the woods to greet the country that was so not #ReadyforHillary, it elected Donald Trump president.
But never fear. The Democratic Party has congressional leaders, Pelosi added. The Democratic Party is the minority in both the House and Senate.
“It is a gubernatorial party,” she said. The Democratic Party has governors in only 16 states while Republicans hold not just governorships, but unified power in 24 states.
As for the three cycles of electoral shellacking that got them to this place, Pelosi says “we have a plan for that.” Is the plan in an exclusive Tahitian resort or in the woods near Chappaqua?
The full interview with Pelosi is here. Among other things, Cooper asks what damage Democrats risk by pinning their hopes on the Trump camp’s collusion with Russia if it turns out there was none.
“There’s a lot of Democrats who are putting a lot of faith that there is some fire there,” he said. Pelosi said she sees no danger. She also sees the coalition of the ascendant in the party of Pelosi, Sen. Pat Leahy, and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
