It looks like President Trump and former President Obama finally have something in common: they both want Nancy Pelosi to be the next Speaker of the House.
President Trump expressed his desire through a series of tweets promising Pelosi as many Republican votes as she would need to get the speakership and Obama expressed his support for Pelosi in a new glowing review when he was a guest on a podcast.
In the glowing review, Obama said the current House Minority Leader is one of the nation’s most effective congressional leaders.
Her “skill, tenacity, toughness, vision, is remarkable,” Obama said as Politico reports.
“Her stamina, her ability to see around corners, her ability to stand her ground and do hard things and to suffer unpopularity to get the right thing done, I think, stands up against any person that I’ve observed or worked directly within Washington during my lifetime,” he also said, via CNN.
“And my experience has been that Nancy Pelosi knows how to do that, and she was an extraordinary partner for me throughout my presidency,” the former president continued.
And, from Politico: “I think Nancy Pelosi, when the history is written, will go down as one of the most effective legislative leaders that this country’s ever seen.”
And:
Here’s how some people on social media responded:
Pelosi is now expected to win the speakership after the only member to publicly speak out against her—Democrat Congresswoman Marcia Fudge—has announced her support for the California congresswoman.
From Reuters:
Nancy Pelosi’s bid to become the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives got a boost on Tuesday when fellow Democratic Representative Marcia Fudge announced that she would support her election to the top post.
Fudge, who has been mulling a challenge to Pelosi, said in a statement, “I now join my colleagues in support of the leadership team” that would be headed by Pelosi.
NBC News reports the decision to back Pelosi scored Fudge a chairmanship position in a new subcommittee on elections:
The only potential Democratic challenger to publicly consider challenging Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for speaker of the House on Tuesday threw her weight instead behind the California congresswoman.
As Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio announced her decision as Pelosi announced she would reinstate a subcommittee on elections, naming Fudge chair of that panel.