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Nancy Pelosi Tells Democratic Critics, ‘I Think I’m Worth the Trouble’ - The New York Times

posted onJune 23, 2017
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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, strolled before the cameras on Thursday with defeat at her back once more, projecting a well-worn swagger — brash, defiant, more than a little off key — as she insisted that her moment had not passed. “I think I’m worth the trouble,” she told reporters, parrying renewed questions from Democrats about her stewardship after yet another Republican congressional candidate, this time in Georgia, found success by making Ms. Pelosi and her adopted hometown, San Francisco, the centerpiece of a campaign. With six words, Ms. Pelosi, 77, demonstrated the self-assurance that has powered her as one of the most successful congressional leaders in the modern era. Yet even as Democrats enjoy a surge of grass-roots energy that could resurrect their House majority, some members of Ms. Pelosi’s own party are impatient for her to give up her 15-year grip on power. She is the Democrat most crucial to determining whether her party can take back the House and torpedo President Trump’s agenda — an avatar of the kind of coastal excess that Republicans abhor and that some progressives have come to view suspiciously in an age of ascendant populism. “Everybody wants leaders,” she said in an interview in her office at the Capitol, during which she was often as dismissive of critics in her own party as she was of the Republican opposition. “Not a lot of people want to be led.” The Democrats’ loss on Tuesday in the special House election ... Link to the full article to read more

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