It's Always the Leadership

Check out Roll Call's crack reporting on this one (sub. req.):

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signaled a new willingness to deal on health care reform last week when she said she had no non- negotiable demands for the over­­haul.

It appeared to mark a shift from her position, stated unequivocally for weeks, that she needed a strong public insurance option to pass a bill through the House.

“This is about a goal. It’s not about provisions,” she said Thursday.

For longtime Pelosi watchers, the change in tone followed a familiar script: In leading a liberal-heavy Caucus, she has frequently staked out left-leaning positions in big debates only to moderate them when political reality necessitated.

The question now is whether she is following a pattern or whether it is something entirely different.

Some people close to Pelosi said she has not abandoned the public insurance option and is only seeking to create some breathing room for the various wings of her fractious Caucus in advance of a final negotiating push. Pelosi showed no new flexibility on the provision in an occasionally tense private huddle with leading fiscally conservative Blue Dogs last week, people familiar with that session said.

But the Speaker also cautioned liberals not to draw lines in the sand in a separate meeting with leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, suggesting she could be warming to a “trigger” that would only authorize a government-backed plan as a fallback.

That, together with Pelosi’s moderate public comments, suggested the old movie may be playing again. “She’s a good leader because she knows her Members and understands what their tolerance is,” Democratic lobbyist Steve Elmendorf said. “She’s acknowledging the reality that they don’t have much willingness to do more than the Senate will do.”

In the past, Pelosi has only inched toward the center after it became clear the debate had moved irreversibly in that direction — and there were ample signs of that happening with health care reform last week.

Elmendorf. What do we know about him? He's a lobbyist feasting on Pelosi's brains.

But that may not have been the big story there. Despite on sourcing lobbyist Elmendorf only, I think the story has a real point about Pelosi and standing strong for progressive policies. She talks tough until it actually matters. In that regard, I'm not doubting the implication of the story.