In the pre-Democratic debate show on MSNBC Sunday night, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd brought on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and asked her if, as “a student of American politics” and someone who “broke a marble ceiling as first woman Speaker of the House,” how significant it would be “for the Democratic Party to elect the first woman president.”
Moments beforehand, Todd sought Pelosi’s sense of where the country is and what type of election does she think 2016 will be: “Is this going to be big change election? Is this going to be a continuity election? Is it going to be somewhere in between? What do you think this election is going to be about?”
On the topic of this election, Todd wondered to get the sense of the electorate from one of the wealthiest members of Congress and one who presides over the smallest Democratic caucus since the 1940s:
You are a student of American politics. You have been in so many different battles and different election years. What do you make of the country's anxiety? What do you think is the underlying reason for the anxiety. It's clear there's anxiety out there. What do you think it is?
Pelosi largely discarded the uneasiness in the American electorate compared to 2008 despite an attempt by Todd to interject and mention the lack of growing wages in the economy.
Nevertheless, Todd moved on and with a fawning conclusion about how Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House and what it would mean for Democrats to elect Hillary Clinton as the first woman president:
TODD: I know you are officially neutral. You broke a glass ceiling as Speaker of the House.
PELOSI: Marble ceiling.
TODD: Marble ceiling, that’s right. You broke a marble ceiling as first woman Speaker of the House. How important is it for the Democratic Party to elect the first woman president?
PELOSI: It would be exciting. There’s no question. I mean, I love all of our candidates. I’m from Maryland. I appreciate Martin O'Malley and support his agenda. I’m colleague of Bernie Sanders and love the fact he's attracting so many people to his point of view. Hillary Clinton is the first woman president it would send quite a — I can say from my own experience, being Speaker is different from being president but nonetheless, the public awareness is different but nonetheless, the response we got around the country and the world.
TODD: Something about being the first.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Democratic Candidates Debate Pre-Show on January 17 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Democratic Candidates Debate Pre-Show
January 17, 2016
8:21 p.m. Eastern
CHUCK TODD: What is this, you know, elections sometimes, there’s change elections and sometimes, there’s continuity elections. What is this to you? Is this going to be big change election? Is this going to be a continuity election? Is it going to be somewhere in between? What do you think this election is going to be about? And I mean in the big picture?
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSWOMAN NANCY PELOSI (Calif.): I mean we are amused by each over always saying this is the most important election of our time.
(....)
TODD: You are a student of American politics. You have been in so many different battles and different election years. What do you make of the country's anxiety? What do you think is the underlying reason for the anxiety. It's clear there's anxiety out there. What do you think it is?
PELOSI: I think that it is important to evaluate what happened in 2008 carefully. It was a situation where families were threatened in terms of their financial stability, their homeownership, their pensions, their jobs, the ability to send their children to school. They saw us bail out Wall Street, in their view, which was to bail out our economy and nobody bailed them out and I think that uncertainty is what is holding in check any consumer confidence that they might have. Consumer confidence is the life blood of our economy.
(....)
TODD: I know you are officially neutral. You broke a glass ceiling as Speaker of the House.
PELOSI: Marble ceiling.
TODD: Marble ceiling, that’s right. You broke a marble ceiling as first woman Speaker of the House. How important is it for the Democratic Party to elect the first woman president?
PELOSI: It would be exciting. There’s no question. I mean, I love all of our candidates. I’m from Maryland. I appreciate Martin O'Malley and support his agenda. I’m colleague of Bernie Sanders and love the fact he's attracting so many people to his point of view. Hillary Clinton is the first woman president it would send quite a — I can say from my own experience, being Speaker is different from being president but nonetheless, the public awareness is different but nonetheless, the response we got around the country and the world.
TODD: Something about being the first.
PELOSI: Well, being the first woman, being first woman with because we believe when women succeed America succeeds.
