She complains about the "double standard" in "the way in which the press--and the public, too--examines a woman candidate's clothing and hair down to the millimeter." But the only example she provides is a woman who compliments Pelosi's designer suit on the campaign trail, thinking it is her "favorite pattern. Simplicity 124!"
Even Pelosi's husband Paul is at fault. Soon after they met, he asked her to pick up his shirts from the drycleaner while she was there to collect her own. "How could he ever have thought I would pick them up?" she asks, apparently unfamiliar with the idea that friends do each other favors. "After we were married, he once asked me to iron a shirt. That didn't happen either," says the 20-year stay-at-home wife and mother.
Pelosi warns young women about "The Secret Sauce Club" among men "in Congress, a corporation, a boardroom, or a campus." She explains, "Their message was, 'Only we know the secret sauce for success; you don't, and you never will.'" She doesn't provide any examples, but she does say, "It's going to take a little more time--and a little more disruption--before the secret sauce attitude completely disappears." She encourages America's daughters to run for office and gain "many more seats at the table," but why would they want to when they read her complaints?
Nancy Pelosi encourages young women to forge their own paths, but explains that women will only succeed with the help of Pelosi's self-proclaimed "San Francisco values": "community, individual rights, and
protection of the environment." She says more women could run for office if they had access to "quality child care." She doesn't explain what this means or who will pay, although we can guess. She adds, "I consider my role in politics as an extension of my role as a mom." Not only will Nancy Pelosi's mommy state provide women with quality child care, but it will also provide affordable health care, affordable college tuition, and address "the global climate crisis." After all, as Pelosi told the Politico last week, she is "trying to save the planet."
Last, Pelosi heralds bipartisan cooperation and quotes her swearing-in speech: "Let us all stand together to move our country forward, seeking common ground for the common good. We are from different parties but we serve one country." She expresses this sentiment soon after she describes fighting "the Republicans' culture of corruption, cronyism, and incompetence." She says that the Capitol is "the most beautiful building in the world because of what it represents: the voice of the people"--unless of course the people support drilling for oil.
And if readers need more evidence of Pelosi's "bipartisanship," she provides an anecdote early in her book. When the Pelosis moved to San Francisco, they couldn't find a house for months. When the perfect house finally became available, Nancy learned that the owner was moving to Washington to join the Nixon administration--and she "could never live anyplace that was made available because of the election of Richard Nixon." She writes that her youngest child, "who hadn't been born yet, often says to me that she knows everything she needs to know about me by hearing that story." We do, too--although we didn't need to read her memoir to learn it.
Samantha Sault is a deputy online editor at THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
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