"Uh, She Falls Somewhere Between 43 and 44, I'd Say..."

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States.

Actually, not actually.

Historians would offer you that he is actually the 45th President of the United States.

If you take David Rice Atchison into account.

If you’d like to take Atchison into account, here’s a link that will take you there.

http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/senator_david_rice_atchison

I remember first reading about Atchison in a book of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not when I was a kid.

(AUTHORS NOTE: For those born after, say, 1985, the word “book” refers to a collection of paper pages on which words were printed, ideally to inform, entertain and/or enlighten. They were popular for a number of centuries prior to the advent of the Internet. Samples of these historic artifacts can be found in a museum-like structure actually created solely to store said artifacts. They’re called libraries. For more information on the words “book” and “library”, just look them up on the Internet.
Or you could actually go to the library.)

I think the case can be pretty articulately made that, technically, Atchison was president.

But, for my money, that still doesn’t make Obama the 45th.

My thinking, lately, is that he is actually the 46th.

If you take Nancy Pelosi into account.

Now, first, let’s get one thing understood.

I am not a sexist or misogynist. I don’t have issues with the idea of women in power. I have,

willingly and successfully, worked for and under women (grow up, that joke is really beneath you).

As a matter of fact, I think the fact that we still haven’t elected a female president indicates that this country still has a lot of growing up to do.

And my conscience is clear when I share with you that if Nancy Pelosi were, say, Norman Pelosi, my opinion would be the same.

Don’t care for her much.

My impression of her so far, and especially lately, is that she doesn’t have a real handle on what I personally believe to be the hallmark of someone who understands the true purpose of having power.

Using that power to make life better for as many people as humanly possible.

More and more, she seems to be of the school that the purpose of power is to get more power.

And to stand in the way of things not so much to valiantly uphold a principle as to simply make it clear that she has the power to stand in the way of things.

I imagine that Republicans dig her.

After all, she’s almost as much an obstacle to the Obama agenda as they are.

And I think it’s not only fine, it’s essential, that there be people who are willing to tell truth to power and not just rubber stamp everything a president wants to do.

From what I read, Obama likes to have those kinds of people around him.

So, my guess would be that he likes the idea of a Nancy Pelosi.
So do I.

I just don’t like the way she’s implementing the idea.

And here’s the reason why and, at last, my point.

By its nature, the position of Speaker of The House is, arguably, the second most powerful position in our system of government.

With all due respect to Biden.

Not to mention Hillary.

Here’s where it goes south…

We, the people, didn’t elect Nancy Pelosi to the second most powerful position in our system of government.

The people of California elected her to represent them in the House of Representatives and the House of Representatives elected her to the second most powerful position in our system of government.

It’s one thing to stand in the doorway and block somebody from entering because you believe it to be in their, and our, best interest.

It’s very much another thing to stand in the doorway and block somebody simply because you can.

Pelosi is, apparently, the latter.

And if her reasons for doing it were to hold fast and true to her personal vision of what is best for America, then I, and we, would, I think, be honor bound to respect that.

Provided, of course, that we had also elected her to be the person living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

But she’s not.
And we didn’t.

David Rice Atchison may have been, by circumstance, an official President of the United States.

Nancy Pelosi ain’t.