When a Woman Runs the House

The first memory that I have of Time is thanks to my zealous, larger-than-life eighth grade social studies teacher, Mr. Cheeseman, who over the course of his 30-year career wallpapered his classroom with the magazine’s iconic cover images. It was seeing them there that made me realize the significance of this American journalistic staple and how its cover highlights matters of cultural importance.

It’s surprising then that Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) historic term as speaker of the House drew to a close without her image ever having adorned the cover of Time (or Newsweek, for that matter). Somehow, at no point during her tenure as the third in line to the presidency — the most powerful position in politics ever held by a woman in American history — did Time or Newsweek find her to be cover-worthy material.

I’d suggest that the feminist community should waste no further time or blog space analyzing the decision of Time and Newsweek to exclude her. Neither Pelosi nor women in general need these magazines’ recognition to know that we’re approaching the days of being able to say “we’ve made it,” because our accomplishments speak for themselves (though we certainly still have a long, hard fight ahead of us). Now that we’ve called it like we’ve seen it, let’s move on to celebrating Pelosi for all she’s worth.

Besides her historic position, Pelosi deserves credit for her remarkably effective run as speaker. No matter what side of the aisle on which you sit most comfortably, you have to admit that Pelosi set a new standard for House leadership. Under her direction, the following legislative accomplishments emerged successfully: health care reform, ethics reform, financial reform, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the multi-billion dollar stimulus package, and an increase in the minimum wage, among other major victories.

In fact, Ms. magazine (which recently featured Pelosi on their cover for the second time) called Pelosi “the most effective speaker ever,” citing supporting remarks from both conservatives and liberals alike. Furthermore, Pelosi, as speaker of the largest legislative body in the country, was able to effectively align her party’s interests in one of the most trying political environments in our nation’s history — one with two wars, a failing economy, and an incredibly divisive political environment, among other challenges — and somehow none of this prevented her from doing her job well. Kudos, Pelosi, kudos. You’ve left one hell of a pair of heels to fill.

Let’s all sit on the edge of our seats to see what else Pelosi is capable of as she resumes her former position of minority leader. It ain’t over till it’s over, right?

This post was written by National Student Advisory Council member Meghan Wallace.