Go Home and Play with the Grandchildren

Ruth Marcus of the WaPo writes about Nancy Pelosi:

I'm not the biggest Nancy Pelosi fan around -- and I'm certainly not a charter member of the fan club like my colleague Gene Robinson -- but I think there's something impressive in her decision not to fade away in the aftermath of what was, from her point of view, a disastrous election.

After you've had the speakership, with all the power and attention, the temptation would be to chuck it all, stay home and eat bon-bons -- or, in Pelosi's case, Ghirardelli chocolates. That's what Newt Gingrich did in 1998 (after his party lost a measly five seats and he faced a rebellion in the ranks). It's what Denny Hastert did in 2006. (He left the leadership and quit for good in mid-2007 after his party lost the majority.) Heck, Sarah Palin quit even without losing, just when she got sorta bored with being governor. So I don't know if Pelosi is the best face for Democrats, or if she will face a challenge for the position of minority leader. But you've got to give her credit: She doesn't stop fighting.

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with this. It seems to me like an unseemly grasping to power. The Republicans I talked to had more animus toward Pelosi than toward Obama, which means she was as much the problem as he was in this electoral debacle.

When you lose as badly as the House Democrats did, it seems to me that the honorable thing for the leader to do is to commit hari-kari, which in America means going home and playing with your grandchildren.