WASHINGTON – Nancy Pelosi is bringing her history-making career in the U.S. House to an end, but she leaves a linguistic legacy in Congress and beyond.
The enduring leadership of the first woman to become speaker of the House can not only be seen but also heard.
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The turns of phrase she uses — her Pelosi-isms — have defined the Democratic leader's tenure and become embedded in the political discourse, echoing from the halls of power.
“Know your power,” Pelosi said in a video address announcing her decision not to seek reelection, dropping a Pelosi-ism and leaving her San Francisco constituents with a call to action.
At a time when the Democratic Party spins in turmoil, hungry for leadership as it confronts President Donald Trump, the Pelosi-isms endure as a reminder of the power of language. Words matter. They can stand as an organizing principle, a shorthand for a shared vision and values, way-finders from the political outback.
As Pelosi, 85, sets out for this next chapter — she plans to finish her final year in Congress — her language over time has captured her legacy and offers guideposts for the next in power.
Pelosi spoke with The Associated Press this summer at her office in Washington.
‘Know your why’
“That’s very important,” Pelosi said. “Because, when I left home to run for Congress, I had to know why I was doing that.”
Politics, she said, is a hard business, particularly for women.
“It’s not for the faint of heart. And it is tough. It’s rough. So it’s only doable if you know why you’re doing it.”
“My ‘why’ was 1 in 5 children in America lives in poverty, goes to sleep hungry at night," she said. "That was my ‘why.’"
‘Throw a punch — for the children’
“In the arena, you have to be active,” she explained.
What started as her nod to Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” speech has become Pelosi’s own a century later.
Roosevelt celebrated what he called “the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly.”
The Pelosi version:
“You have to be ready to take a punch. You have to be ready to to throw a punch — for the children.”
‘Diversity is our strength. Unity is our power.’
It's “so obvious,” she said. “I’ve used it for a while.”
Congress, particularly the often chaotic House, is often considered the branch of government closest to the moods of the people. It reflects the breadth of the nation.
Pelosi calls it the “giant kaleidoscope” in politics.
“We take pride in our diversity, but unless we're unified we're not going to achieve what our goal is," she said about her Democratic side of the aisle.
“And that’s something that people should fear. It's our strength.”
‘Mr. President, don’t characterize the strength that I bring'
A government shutdown was looming shortly after the 2018 midterm elections during Trump’s first term, when he summoned the congressional leaders to the White House.
With the cameras rolling in the Oval Office, Trump badgered and belittled the leaders over his demand for funds to build U.S.-Mexico border wall.
And then he turned on Pelosi. She had been vilified by Republicans in a failed multimillion-dollar ad campaign to stop her party from winning the House.
The president suggested she faced her own political problems ahead.
“Mr. President, please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats who just won a big victory,” she said.
Pelosi soon after walked out of the White House, her burnt orange winter coat swaying in the December afternoon, a lasting image of her return to power.
‘Don’t agonize, organize’
“What do you gain by agonizing?” Pelosi asked.
The feminist leader Florynce “Flo” Kennedy is said to have popularized the phrase during an earlier era. Pelosi put it to use from the Capitol — and in this week's decisive election over redistricting in California.
“The most important thing is time. It’s the most precious commodity of all. So why are you using your time, agonizing over this?” she said. “We organize."
’Treat everyone as a friend, but know who your friends are’
“Darling,” Pelosi recalled the late Rep. Lindy Boggs telling her, ”Don’t make every fight your last fight.”
It’s a life hack Pelosi grafted onto her own approach early on.
“Everybody is a resource to you,” she said. “You never know where a vote might come from.”
‘E pluribus unum’
A founding principal of the nation, “E pluribus unum" comes from Latin, meaning “out of many one.”
More recently, Pelosi has drawn on another historical resource: the national anthem.
“This is what I’m telling members now is our goal: We have to prove ‘through the night that our flag is still there,’” she said.
“And I think those things are very much at risk."
‘Recreate to recreate’ ...
“Isn’t that interesting, it’s the same word?” Pelosi said. “I made that up myself.”
“Go home and recreate to recreate,” she said, “because you’ve got to be ready for the fight.”
But she added, “I don’t always do it myself.”
... ‘Resting is rusting’
“You cannot tire. You must be there to the end,” she said.
It’s a skill she said she learned from union leaders during negotiations.
But doesn’t that contradict “recreate to recreate”?
“Resting is rusting," she said, "is strictly for me.”