Speaker Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi is set to take the helm of the House of Representatives tomorrow, and her first order of business is to get some relatively easy legislation - a minimum wage increase, lowering costs for Medicare-covered prescription drugs - passed. She's going to do that by leaving House Republicans out of the process, at least for now. Mrs. Pelosi hoped to include the minority party in the committee work, but she wised up and remembered how the Republicans in Congress used their minority status last time - by sabotaging the works to set the stage for their 1994 takeover of both houses. She plans to exclude the GOP from the legislative process temporarily, but she may have to extend it if they prove to be troublesome.

Meanwhile, the White House appears to be practicing its own form of obstructionism. George W. Bush has declared in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, which he allegedly wrote himself, that he's ready to work with congressional Democrats, but that his tax and Iraq policy are not up for discussion an any attempt by the Democrats to discuss it will be seen as playing politics.

Oh yeah, he also tried to imply once again that the people who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001, are the same people we're fighting in Iraq, even though al-Qaeda is almost irrelevant there and sectarian violence has overshadowed foreign terrorist operations in the country.

All right, Nance - you know what to do. Come out swinging!

(I think I'll avoid Washington for awhile . . .)