Will Barack Obama Serve Nancy Pelosi's First Term?

Who is the real power behind Barack Obama?  It's not Reverend Wright.  It's not Michelle Obama.  It's not David Axelrod.  It's not Mayor Daley.  His carefuly crafted image with little substance behind it, his ability to defeat the powerful Clinton political machine, his come-from-nowhere-into-the-blazing-spotlight evolution, and the fact that he began referring to the Democratic Party as "MY party" in June - all these things made me wonder if he's actually a puppet, a front man, for the real power - the "pay no attention to that woman behind the curtain" power.  The power that, in reality, belongs to Nancy Pelosi.

We've seen her wield it effortlessly and absolutely, and most egregiously over the past several days since she shut the lights, cameras and microphones off at the House and dismissed any Republican efforts to urge the House members to continue working on a comprehensive American Energy Act as nothing more than a "stunt".  If I were a project manager, this would be the moral equivalent of me shutting down a project meeting while we're over budget, behind schedule and incomplete in our objective; hanging up the conference call, unplugging the video camera and demanding the project team turn in their laptops on the way out the door so they cannot override my decision to stop all work regardless of whether we've completed our client's objective, that would be our client who is paying good money for our services and providing the conference room to us in the first place. 

Bloomberg has an article today that seems to validate my opinion of Pelosi's power not only in leading an extremely unified Democratic Party, but also in playing a very significant role in anointing Barack Obama when it was clear to many Americans that Hillary Clinton actually had more experience and - am I wrong? - more of the popular vote.

``This is an unbelievably cohesive team; there's almost no backstabbing,'' says House Democratic policy director Rahm Emanuel, a man not easily given to subsidiary roles. ``I'll do anything she wants, and she knows it.''

When I read that, it didn't impress me that Rahm was the World's Greatest Team Player so much as it jarred me that he is so totally, utterly and completely Owned.  And if Barack Obama thinks he won't be Owned as well, I think he had better think again.  He may find himself to be the ultimate NanChurian Candidate®.

Cross-posted at Lagamorphic Tendencies