But last Thursday Mrs. Pelosi wrote the president, discouraging him from accepting her Jan. 3 invitation to address the nation from the House chamber next Tuesday. She cited “security concerns” and suggested the Secret Service could not protect the president if he trekked up to Capitol Hill. Now she has rescinded the invite altogether. This kind of thing gives a bad name to pettiness.
Then there are the Democrats who’ve jumped into their party’s presidential contest in the past four weeks. None did so with a traditional speech outlining an agenda and governing vision. Instead, they made their announcements on social media, a network morning TV program and even a late-night comedy show.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren appeared outside her home in Cambridge, Mass., introduced her dog, announced that she was filing to create a presidential exploratory committee, and bashed “the wealthy and the well-connected.” The longest sentence in her announcement “speech” urged people to go to her website to join and donate. Her recitation of the entire 180-word, 75-second statement was then turned into an online video.
On Jan. 15, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, 52, described herself as a “young mom” as she broke the news about her presidential exploratory committee on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Not to be outdone, Sen. Kamala Harris joined the race last Monday with a segment on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” bookended by news of Prince Philip’s auto accident and a United airplane stuck on a remote Canadian runway in subzero temperatures. Then in a video posted on Twitter , the California freshman declared, “Truth, Justice, Decency, Equality, Freedom, Democracy: These aren’t just words.” You could be excused for thinking it was her audition for the next big comic-book movie.
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