Suchergebnisse

Congressional scholars have devoted considerably more attention to describing and explaining congressional leadership than to evaluating it. The election of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives provides fresh occasion for consideration of normative criteria for assessing leadership performance. In this article we develop a set of normative criteria grounded in congressional leadership theory. We discuss recent speakerships in relationship to these criteria. We then assess Speaker Pelosi's performance in the 110th Congress. We conclude that by each criterion, she has provided effective leadership; however, we regard any assessment at this point to be provisional. Important tests of her leadership are yet to come.

The election of a Democratic majority to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 110thCongress paved the way for Nancy Pelosi of California to become the first woman speaker. As the incumbent Democratic leader, Pelosi was well known on Capitol Hill. Yet as the incoming speaker, and the first woman speaker, she faced the certainty of receiving extensive media scrutiny in the run up to the 2006 election, during the transition period, and during her first year in office. How would she become viewed by the American people? And who would shape the public's perception of her? What role would gender and her status as the historic first woman speaker play in focusing the lens of media attention?