House Minority Leader Pelosi is smiling right now….
Looks like she’s gonna get the gavel in running the US House come January….
Senator Chuck Schumer on the other hand?
He’s saying prayers that MAYBE thru some sort of miracle he could squeak out a few Senate races where the polls come out wrong against Democrats ….
(If he hangs on for another two years?…He WILL most defiantly get the Majority in 2021 though)
He’s the minority leader in the Senate, tasked with protecting his most vulnerable Democratic Party colleagues from losing their elections Tuesday in states President Trump won, while at the same time leading the battle against Trump’s agenda.
These two goals are often in conflict with one another, putting Schumer in a familiar position: It’s unclear if he’s landing punches or just flailing about.
Schumer, like his opponent in the White House, is an outer-borough boy who knows how to make use of the wild New York media market and often seems to care more about his team winning than about ideological purity.
But where Trump breaks all the rules of politics, Schumer seems to be guided by them. His mind is filled with poll numbers and focus group responses, more consultant than combatant.
Schumer’s supporters say this is what makes him the right man for the job: It will take a strategist to keep the Senate from slipping even further from Democratic control.
His critics say this is exactly what makes him a man out of time: If the president is willing to break all the rules, Democrats should not be using the same, tired playbook….
…
…even though Democrats were unable to beat back Trump’s massive tax cuts, they stuck together.
But 2017 turned into 2018, and in the midst of an election year, it started to look a bit like Schumer wasn’t willing to wage as many fights. Democrats — even those who had been closest to Schumer — began to wonder whether he was the guy who could lead the political brawl on Trump’s turf….
…
“We will need to be clearer, bolder, broader and more specific,” he wrote. “I saw that it is just not possible by consensus.”
How does that square with the way he runs the caucus now?
“I guess I evolved,” he said.
Evolution comes with time. Schumer’s ambition now is to fill the stage with more Democrats, not push them away. It’s possible that Schumer has fallen into the same trap a decade ago, back when he said the Democrats’ best ideas would often “drown in a sea of consensus.” Perhaps Democrats need a resistance leader who can tap into the energy, the anger and the passion of the left.
Or perhaps it will turn out the best antidote for a government ruled by an unyielding president is a party that at least appears to seek unity.
“It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had, fighting Trump without all the cards,” Schumer said. “Maybe we’ll have more cards in November — God willing.”….
image…vanityfair