Pelosi and Reid - Mr. and Mrs, Irrelevant

Complete disclosure upfront - I have a very low opinion of both of them. I find them petty and shallow, typical politicians, when the country needs leadership and depth. However, I find myself feeling just a little bit sorry for them recently. First of all, they have both put their pettiness on wide display to the nation over the past few months on numerous occasions.

My favorite Reid petty moment happened at the opening of the new visitor center in DC when he was widely quoted as saying: “My staff tells me not to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway,” said Reid in his remarks. “In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it’s true.” Not only was he advised not to say it, why would he insult the very people who pay for his high standard of living? Is he that much better than the rest of us? Sounds like the definition of elitism and pettiness.

My favorite Pelosi moment of pettiness came in the heat of the recent town hall meetings: "These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American." Since when did it become "disruptive" to express an opinion to an elected official? When did it become un-American to exercise free speech? Such ridiculous statements like these and others contribute to their growing irrelevance.

The second area of irrelevance is simply their track record. They have been in charge of Congress and all of the Congressional committees for almost three years, with the past eight months they have had a President from their own party. What have they accomplished of any significance? I'll wait, think about it. Still thinking? Don't waste your time, just look at their record:

• The Democrats, led by Pelosi and Reid, chaired both the House and Senate committees concerned about banking and housing matters. Neither of them, along with their Democratic committee chairmen, saw the economic collapse coming until it hit them in the face even though it was the largest banking crisis since the Depression.
• Trying to recover, they hastily passed legislation that gave untold billions of bailout taxpayer money to banks and others without any conditions. As a result, the receiving companies took the money and promptly rewarded their executives with rich compensation programs.
• Their budget plans will add NINE TRILLION dollars to the Federal deficit in the next ten years. On average this will add almost $7,000 a year to each household's tax bill.
• Both Pelosi and Reid were vehement opponents to the war in Iraq. Reid went so far as to state that we had lost the war. However, despite working with a President who campaigned on a platform of the evil of the Iraq war, we are no closer to an exit from the country than we were under Bush.
• Despite being in charge of Congress for three years we are no closer to solutions to drug addiction, failing public schools, bankruptcy probabilities for Social Security and Medicare, foreign energy reliance, crumbling infrastructure, etc., etc., etc.

Nothing says irrelevance than having a track record of no accomplishments.

And finally, a source of irrelevance from a totally unexpected source: President Obama. In a previous post we covered the insanity of having over thirty "czars" in place on the White House staff from both a budget and conflict with Cabinet departments perspectives. However, having done a little research, the czar strategy gets more and more scary. Since these czars are considered part of Obama's staff, they are immune to a number of Constitutional checks and balances. They do not have to have their plans and budgets approved by Congress. They do not have to go through background checks like Cabinet nominees and other high ranking executives and they do not have to appear in front of the appropriate Congressional review and approval committees, as specified in the Constitution. They are immune to Congressional supoenas, claiming executive privilege since they technically report to Obama. And obviously, they are immune to be voted out of office since they were not elected to begin with. Given the far reaching and wide power Obama thinks these czars have, most of Congress is losing its power and relevance.

Thus, given their pettiness, the record of exactly zero accomplishments, and the knee capping of their Constitutional authority by a fellow Democrat, Pelosi and Reid now remind of an old saying a past boss used to use: "Queen Of The Pigs". True, you are a queen but who cares? The very definition of irrelevance.