“It’s up to the president to decide whether he’s going to run. We all encourage him to make that decision because time is running out,” the California Democrat said. “He’s loved, he’s respected, and people want him to make that decision.”
In those few sentences, on a show Biden is accustomed to watching, Pelosi stopped short of directly calling on Biden to step down. But she dramatically reframed a delicate but urgent conversation taking place among Capitol Hill lawmakers, Democratic donors, party strategists and voters after Biden’s faltering debate performance two weeks ago raised questions about his ability to beat Donald Trump and serve another term as president.
In a letter to Democrats on the Hill this week, Biden insisted he would run for reelection. But Nancy Pelosi, with subtle precision on morning television, said the president had a “decision to make.” She was the most prominent among Democrats to paint a picture of a president who is thinking deeply about his candidacy, even as Biden and his camp insist there is no other choice on the table.
And it left Hill Democrats wondering whether they could actually influence the path Biden chooses to take four months before November.
According to those who have known and observed Nancy Pelosi over the past few administrations, she is not acting in a vacuum, and her language is intentional. Her timing is remarkable, coming just days after the president’s letter was released and a day before a high-stakes press conference by Biden, according to Democrats who have worked with and around the former House speaker.
Pelosi, who remains in the House even after resigning as speaker, is “always very thoughtful in what she says,” a senior House Democrat said. said the assistant.
In the hours after his speech, a New York member of a competitive district — Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan — said he could no longer support Biden, the 12th Democratic member of the House by the end of the day to urge the president to step down. New York Lt. Gov. and former House member Antonio Delgado said it was time for a “new leader.” If not, the most prominent voice calling for Biden to drop out of the race Wednesday was actor George Clooney. A Democratic senator — Peter Welch (Vt.) — became the first senator to publicly call for Biden to step down in a Washington Post op-ed Wednesday night.
“We cannot ignore President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the legitimate questions that have been raised since that night,” Welch said.
Pelosi’s televised interview came minutes before a group of Democrats from key constituencies held a second meeting in as many days with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) to discuss Biden’s candidacy. The House’s most vulnerable members have only grown more concerned in recent days that Biden will be a drag on their campaign, as new public and internal campaign polls have painted a bleak electoral picture for Democrats, undermining their ability to recapture the chamber. Democrats need just four seats to reclaim the House majority, but all of their most vulnerable members must win.
Pelosi’s loyalty is to the House and she will act in the best interests of the House, two senior House Democratic aides noted.
Congressional Democrats have mostly complained privately about Biden’s performance in the debate two weeks ago, in which he appeared at times lost or unable to finish his sentences. But many have hesitated to publicly urge him to abandon his campaign, waiting, they say, for new polling data, the end of the NATO summit in Washington this week and to see how Biden performs at a news conference Thursday night.
House leaders — including Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) — have said they support Biden, but have said little else despite widespread concern among their supporters that the president could seriously jeopardize their chances of winning back the House majority and retaining the Senate in November.
“I agree with Nancy. She’s stating the obvious,” Welch said earlier Wednesday. “President Biden has made it clear he’s all in, but the evidence continues to come in about how an uphill battle is turning into a mountainous battle.”
As of Wednesday morning, Nancy Pelosi had not made many statements either. But when she did speak, Washington took note of the potential implications.
The former House speaker is part of a small circle of Democratic power brokers who can pressure the president, according to several current and former Hill aides. A chief of staff to a Democratic member of the House of Representatives said the California Democrat… who is 84 and leaves the House leadership in 2023 — “has the most influence” among party elders who could ultimately deliver a somber message to a defiant Biden given the two men’s decades-long relationship.
“There’s only one person who has the seriousness and the courage to say anything to Biden and that’s Pelosi,” said a former Hill aide close to congressional leaders.
Pelosi’s remarks were not coordinated with Jeffries, three senior Democratic aides said. The leadership is still in listening mode, the aides said, as the House Democratic caucus remains deeply divided over how to approach the question of Biden’s fitness for office.
Jeffries hasn’t given his members much direction on how to approach the Biden issue. Privately, he hasn’t told members whether they should hold the line for the president, according to five people familiar with his deliberations who — like others interviewed for this article — spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Vulnerable Democrats and other members who spoke with Jeffries in recent days said they believed he understood their concerns.
In two separate meetings over the past 24 hours, Jeffries told members he would soon convey their deep concerns to the president, according to three people familiar with the remarks. It was unclear whether a call has yet been scheduled.
But several aides said Jeffries was stuck when Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus have come out in support of Biden this week. Jeffries is a member of the CBC and has been extremely respectful of the leaders of those groups. Moreover, some members of the leadership doubt that the president would accept their advice if they shared concerns about the campaign. One senior House Democrat complained that he wasn’t even sure members of the House leadership could reach Biden if they tried.
But Democrats on Capitol Hill are confident that Biden might listen to Pelosi.
“I can tell you she’s probably the most astute politician on the planet,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who this week praised Biden for being one of the most effective presidents in U.S. history. “So I’ll leave it there.”
Biden, 81, and Pelosi, 84, share the same Catholic faith and have spent more than three decades working together on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues, including the 1994 crime bill that included a ban on assault weapons.
Biden’s last major legislative achievement as a senator, the passage of a bill to combat AIDS in Africa in July 2008, was a signature issue that Nancy Pelosi led in the House of Representatives during her first term. As vice president, Biden was often tasked with selling compromises with congressional Republicans to Pelosi’s caucus, a move that left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Democrats but earned Pelosi’s respect.
Once Democrats took full control of Washington in January 2021, Biden and Pelosi, along with Schumer, worked closely on an ambitious policy agenda that included the largest investment ever made to combat climate change. Their partnership grew so strong that throughout late 2021 and 2022, longtime diplomatic observers—from Foggy Bottom to Rome—took note of Biden’s delay in nominating a U.S. ambassador to Italy. That sparked deep speculation that every time she resigned as Speaker of the House, the president wanted to send the Italian-American Catholic to Rome as a cornerstone.
She denied these rumors and, after deciding to leave the leadership of the House, Nancy Pelosi took the unusual step of remaining in the House and rejoining the rank and file, albeit with the same seriousness and an honorary title: “Speaker Emeritus.”
Until last week, perhaps no Democrat had been a more effective defender of Biden’s age and abilities than Pelosi, routinely turning any question on the subject into both an attack on Trump and a vigorous defense of Biden.
“Joe Biden has vision. He has knowledge. He has a strategic mind. He’s a very astute president in terms of public presentation,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in February. “If he makes a slip here or there, what’s the problem?”
Just five months ago, Nancy Pelosi had forcefully defended Biden’s private handling of affairs, even if his public statements had to be somewhat sanitized. “I think his public presentation is fine,” she told Cooper. “I think in the meetings, you see firsthand that he’s on top of things.”
Liz Goodwin and Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.
News Source : www.washingtonpost.com
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