The G.O.A.T of All G.O.A.T.S.
By Colleen O’Connor
By way of explanation, the term G.O.A.T. was first coined by Heavyweight boxing Champion, Muhammed Ali’s wife. She borrowed his, “I am the greatest” taunts and converted them to shorthand, “G.O.A.T.”, aka the “Greatest Of All Time.”
G.O.A.T. has been applied to other “greats;” the Olympic gymnast champion, Simone Biles; basketball greats LeBron James and Michael Jordan; as well as tennis super star, Serena Williams.
These greats and others are often referred to as the G.O.A.T. by fans and journalists. Recently, GOAT has even morphed into an online marketplace for selling sneakers and sports apparel, with “free verification services on all purchases to ensure sneakers are authentic and as described.”
G.O.A.T. made for great publicity in the 1990s, became a popular meme in the 2020s, and has stayed relevant with the current text goat emoji.
Last Friday, moderate Democrats scored a win after the House voted 228-206 to move a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to President Biden’s desk. You remember “infrastructure week” that remained a four-year slogan?
It just became a reality. And the G.O.A.T of all G.O.A.T.S. (the Greatest of All Time Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, made it happen.
According to Wikipedia, “goats are naturally curious. They are also agile and well known for their ability to climb and balance in precarious places.” An apt description for Pelosi’s recent Houdini performance. The Hill reports:
“In a deal between the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus and moderate Blue Dog Democrats, the three agreed to pass the infrastructure legislation while a procedural rule would be passed teeing up a vote on the Democrats’ social spending bill for the future.”
“The agreement between the three also established that if the $1.75 trillion social spending bill filled with Democratic priorities received a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score that aligned with that of estimates from the White House, moderates would vote for the bill.”
How did she do it? With a mastery of legislative maneuvers, an uncanny ability to count votes and pressure combatants to yield, and always, allowing others to take the credit and the bows.
Remember, the Affordable Care Act when everyone had given up? Pelosi said, “give me the names” (of the holdouts) and moved each one to “yes.” She, not the president, got the deal over the finish line.
As the Intercept boldly headlined the news: “NANCY PELOSI’S FIGHT: HOW SHE REVIVED OBAMACARE AFTER DEMOCRATS LEFT IT FOR DEAD.
Then added, “Nancy Pelosi, a complicated political figure, saved the Affordable Care Act from Democratic destruction.”
So, too, with the Infrastructure bill. Those basking in the limelight are not the heavy lifters of the success. Yes, the Congressional Black Caucus, deserves credit. Yes, the President deserves some, too. But, watch for more news to break on the insiders’ game and who really pulled it across the finish line.
Pelosi picked her chairs, picked her spokespeople, picked the names for Biden to call and picked her moment to thread the needle and call for the vote.
When asked about vote count, she told reporters that she keeps a “Speaker’s secret whip count” and that a “large number” of progressives will fold and ultimately vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
And so it happened.
“Ms. Pelosi tellingly, sent the low-key chairwoman of the Black Caucus, Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, out to waiting reporters to tell the world. In effect, the speaker had harnessed one faction of her unruly Democrats to win over two others, and understood that the soft-spoken African American lawmaker might have had more influence at that point than she did.”
She not only called the bluff of progressives and moderates, but also added thirteen Republican House members to the “yes” column.
“She’s playing a very tough hand,” said Representative Jared Huffman, a progressive from California. “Far be it from me to offer technical critique to one of the greatest legislators of all time.”
“She is the master of her universe,” insisted Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut.
“She’s one of the greatest leaders of all time,” gushed Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters of California. “She knows exactly what she’s doing.”
And as “soon as it was clear the bill would pass, Pelosi was surrounded by applauding members.”
The G.O.A.T. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll withhold the GOAT moniker from Pelosi until she gets the Build Back Better bill passed. Many observers watched as the house progressives held the bipartisan infrastructure bill until there was agreement to get the BBB bill passed. Many think that once the house passed the BIB, the BBB bill would be bottled up by house and senate moderates. If the BBB bill fails, Pelosi’s decision to get the BIB passed now will be seen as the action that doomed the BBB bill. Not the kind of thing you get called a GOAT for.
Nancy Pelosi is the most strategic, forceful, centered and effective Speaker of the House in maybe forever. Her savvy and style is without parallel, her opponents have been legion and some even come from within her own Party, yet she retains control and remains ladylike and polite. She is awesome. The acronym GOAT is crude and macho and more football than politics and Nancy Pelosi transcends it. I hope the human infrastructure BIB bill passes, for her sake, for Biden’s sake, for all our sakes. Its success would be a gift to the American people and a jewel in Pelosi’s crown, but she is without a doubt and regardless, the Best.
Make that “savvy and style ARE without parallel.” For the children whose
public school teachers are taking an unscheduled “mental health day” on Friday instead of showing up in classrooms around our city, teaching things the kids don’t know, subject/verb agreement matters.
I completely disagree. She tied the Build Back Better bill to the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill for 3/4 months for nothing. Infrastructure was always going to pass and she let the progressive wing tie the House in knots and lead to months of bad press. The failure to get anything done was one factor in the Dem’s looses in the recent off-year election.
Democrats lost Virginia because they ran an insider has-been, a warhorse, a Clinton-era protege about whom the less said the better. Terry McAuliffe lost because he’s a huckster, a salesman from another era of ruthless guys like James Carville, who wrote letters asking for money for his buddy. I’m a Democrat and there is no way I would ever have cast a vote for Terry McAuliffe for anything. And no, I wouldn’t have voted for that stealth Trump surrogate either.
Nancy Pelosi made a promise to Progressives to advance both infrastructure bills simultaneously and she she kept her word, even though she herself is a pragmatic moderate.
Build Back Better may yet survive, but if it doesn’t, you can blame Maserati-driving Dem Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and self-serving Dem Senator Kirsten Sinema of Arizona. We should thank Nancy Pelosi for getting us half-a-loaf.
COP 26 and Abbey Martin asks Pelosi about the Pentagon massive budget and latest bi-partisan increases for the largest single polluter on the planet that EQUALS 140 countries combined emitted CO2 yearly totals.
This is her answer after New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone interrupts as she walks around the stage unable to answer.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1458232030949433352
I find his reasoning extremely convoluted trying to justify the concept that we need to NOT talk about the horrendous damage the military is doing to the climate because he’s talked to them about what they are going to do to…protect the country from…the chaos the Pentagon is helping IN A BIG WAY to create.
Why is this country spending the EXACT the same amount to ‘modernize’ our outrageous nuclear arsenal as the Build Back Better budget though it has been radically chopped up and the Social and Climate parts were deleted t0 be ‘discussed’ at a later date?
Like you said Ms. Zimmerman, it’s all about insiders but half a loaf? Honestly, the way the Dems back down from everything when the bullies start screaming I wouldn’t count on even that But then it IS a corporate largess bill because I’m sure they’re the ones going to get the contracts. Just like they do from the Pentagon.
sealintheSelkirks