‘So tired of geriatric politicians’: Nancy Pelosi gets in the way of progress again, skipping over AOC for another political dinosaur

Anyone paying attention to the Democratic Party knows that Nancy Pelosi somehow runs the show.

The 84-year-old may have ed the official baton of power to Hakeem Jefferies in 2023, but she presides over the party like some sort of matriarchal gargoyle. Her penchant for spearheading political committees and conversations has cemented her as a cornerstone of the party — regardless of whether or not most voters still want her in a leadership position.

Democrats are still reeling from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the left’s favorite rising stars, has been gunning for the head chair of the House Oversight Committee, but per usual, Pelosi and the establishment refuse to move aside for any kind of progress.

Politics and backstabbing go hand in hand, but this one was pretty low. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC if you ask her fans, has been a rising star in the Democratic party, reeling in youthful voters by promising a reevaluation of capitalism. As the mega wealthy like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Koch brothers throw millions of dollars at their favorite politicians, Democratic socialists like Ocasio-Cortez are looking to keep the billionaires and millionaires out of policymaking while simultaneously raising the working class up.

Apparently her views on policy rattled Pelosi, who looked for anyone other than the healthy 35-year-old to fill the slot. AOC is incredibly popular with young Americans. Roughly the median age for American adults, she was the first person to break 1 million subscribers on the rising social media app BlueSky and has endeavored to marry party lines with views that Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential bid proved were deeply popular. But why let someone young, popular with voters, and qualified take a position? Surely Pelosi’s pick must be a beacon of progress, right?

I’m sure Gerry Connolly is a very nice man, but he is not what this country needs right now. He’s been in the House of Representatives since 2009, has a proven track record of book balancing, and has reportedly sided with Joe Biden on every vote since the man was elected president. He’s also 74 and just last month announced that he has esophageal cancer. It’s a horrible disease, and patients have less than a 20% chance of living 5 years past diagnosis. Despite the grim prognosis and advanced age, his colleagues feel he is more than capable of taking on the Trump istration. More importantly, they hope he can flip Virginia blue.

But even his ers seem a little wary of the potential appointment. “Gerry’s a young 74, cancer notwithstanding,” said Don Beyer.

It’s no surprise the decision boiled down to seniority, but when those involved are willing to say the silent part out loud, it’s enraging enough to make you tear your hair out. “I think that the seniority issue in this building gets in the way. Our people back home, they don’t care about seniority,” Becca Balint told Axios. Politico spoke with eight Democratic lawmakers on the Hill and reported that there was “a sense that it was Connolly’s turn” after he served on the for 15 years and ran two failed campaigns for the position.

According to much of the Right, Democrats keep getting spanked by Trump because he’s a political outsider. Yet the party doubles down on their good ‘ol boy’s club at every turn, and it seems like every time it does, Pelosi is right there — even if it means working from her hospital. The octogenarian recently fell and broke a hip, and while we have to commend her for grimacing through a photo op after the fall, knowing that she coordinated Connolly’s win from a German hospital bed is depressing.

There is no denying that Pelosi has been a boon to the Democratic process throughout her career. She stood up for AIDS patients when it was career suicide to do so. She worked hard to advance civil rights for the Black community and urged diplomacy before military action after September 11th. There was once a time that perhaps Pelosi did have her finger on the pulse of America, but those years are far behind her.

Americans want change, and at 84 years old, it’s not change Pelosi can provide. Just like Connolly, she needs to retire and spend what time she has left with her friends and family. None of us are promised tomorrow, and with a prognosis like that, Connolly can hardly promise a year. Perhaps that’s the point. Connolly gets to fill the role he “deserves,” and when he hopefully retires after a year, someone like AOC can fill the role. Unfortunately for the rest of us, as long as Democrats operate like this, Trump and his allies will run circles around them every time.