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Nancy Pelosi faces California struggle The Speaker of the House of Representatives is threatened with political oblivion as she is demonised by beleaguered Americans who see her as the epitome of liberal elitismHaight Street in San Francisco is a place that knows how to cling to lost causes. It stands at the centre of the famous Haight-Ashbury district which was the heart of the 1960s flower power movement. It is still lined with hippie shops selling bongs and tie-dye skirts. It hosts an anarchist bookstore and a local cafe is called Coffee Shop for the People.So it is no surprise in this most liberal corner of one of the most liberal cities in America to still find enthusiastic fans of Nancy Pelosi, the powerful speaker of the House of Representatives whose congressional seat covers San Francisco."She is very strong. I think we have needed strong Democrats like her. I am proud of her," said Annie Coulter, a local costume designer who rapidly disavows the famous conservative firebrand whose name she shares. She has even printed "the real Ann Coulter" on her business card to clear up any doubts.But such pro-Pelosi sentiments are harder and harder to find these days, especially outside her fanatically liberal hometown. Across America, as the fiercely contested midterm elections at the beginning of November draw near, Democrats are on the run from a resurgent and freshly powerful Republican party. Many experts expect the Republicans, powered by a flow of energy from the Tea Party movement, to wrest control of the House which Pelosi heads. A few think they may even win the Senate too.Republicans have put Pelosi front and centre of their campaign, trying to turn her into a rallying cry and a hate figure. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is on a "Fire Pelosi Bus" that is touring the country from coast to coast. Pelosi has been used in Republicans attack adverts in an incredible 47 different congressional seats, most of them many miles away from San Francisco. She has been portrayed as extreme, out-of-touch and elitist; a sort of uncaring liberal ogre forcing unwanted legislation down the throats of ordinary Americans. "She is the featured devil this year," said Republican pollster and political consultant Adam Probolsky "She is solid in her hometown, but outside of that it is a very different picture."That is Pelosi's problem in a nutshell. Her home district voted 85 per cent for Barack Obama in 2008. Pelosi herself romped home in her last election with 72 per cent of the vote. But that will not matter if the Democrats lose the House. She will be ousted as Speaker, after being hailed only four years ago as the most powerful woman in American politics. If that happens, it will be a spectacularly swift fall from political grace. "Her career will be over. At that point she will have no political future," said Jack Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles.Even Pelosi's Republican opponent in San Francisco is enjoying some of the benefits of her troubles. Usually running against Pelosi in her home city would give new and bloody meaning to the phrase "sacrificial lamb". But this time around John Dennis has won many admirers. He has been the subject of sympathetic press portrayals, including in the New York Times, and even some unlikely praise from anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. He has some 30,000 donors and has raised $2m. With a note of wonder in his voice, he says people on the streets of the notoriously anti-Republican city have been pleased to see him. "It has been surprisingly good. Not all people accept me with open arms, but we are growing in confidence. I am gaining traction," Dennis told the Observer.Outside San Francisco, signs of the rising Republican tide are even clearer to see. They were on full display at the Centre for the Performing Arts in San Jose where a conservative group was last week hosting a rally and pep talk with the Tea Party darling and former vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. Several thousand people from all over California had flocked to see her, packing out the auditorium even though it was the middle of a working day. The mood was triumphalist to say the least as Victor Cocchia, director of Liberty And Freedom, the group organising the event, warmed up the crowd. "We have woken up and our voice is going to be heard," he said to loud cheers.But there was no denying who the main attraction was. Palin was greeted with a deafening standing ovation right in the heart of California, a state that has been solidly Democratic since 1992. Her performance was a strange mixture of the electrifying and the bizarre. Her first words were: "Don't you just love your freedom as an American?" Then she launched into a series of rambling anecdotes about Dancing With The Stars, the reality TV show in which her daughter, Bristol, has starred. But as Palin got into her stride, she hit the key political notes that Republicans across America have used to rally their supporters.Obama, she said, was embarked on a plan to fundamentally change their country. He was a threat to both freedom and capitalism. America was now governed by a "leftist elite" pursuing a "liberal agenda". "America is at a tipping point. A lot of people say a breaking point," she warned darkly.No wonder that so many people in the crowd became agitated and constantly heckled her, imploring her to run for president or echoing her talking points. "Let's throw the bums out!" shouted one man in the crowd. Palin rapidly responded: "I could not have said it better myself. Amen, brother! You betchya!"It was a perfect encapsulation of the anger and rage that is coursing through much of the electorate in California and America as a whole. It is certainly an emotion that the Republicans appear far better at channelling than their Democratic counterparts. "Sarah Palin is the only politician that, when she says something, it means something to me. I understand her," said Stan Livingstone, a retired patent drafter who was standing outside Palin's San Jose rally and wearing a hat decorated with the American flag. "America is starting to turn. We are going to surprise a lot of people."Livingstone may well be right. Democratic strategists have bemoaned a lack of enthusiasm from the core activists that were so impressive in getting Obama elected just two years ago. At the same time the party has been riven by splits. Some conservative Democrats have taken a leaf out of their opponents' playbook and tried to distance themselves from Pelosi and other senior national Democratic figures. Indeed at least three Democratic candidates have now come out and said they won't back Pelosi keeping her job as Speaker even if the Democrats keep control of the House.The reason for the disarray, just two years after the historic victory of 2008, is simple: the economy. In the city of Stockton, just a few hours drive inland from San Francisco, the devastating impact of the economic crisis is clear. The city has been hit by the foreclosure crisis almost as badly as anywhere in the country. Yard sales of the belongings of newly homeless residents are common. Next week the city will host a Home Rescue Fair aimed at helping many of its beleaguered citizens avoid losing their homes or at least make the process as painless as possible. "What can we do? We have lost everything," said one man who would only give his name as Roberto. He was standing on a pavement piled high with sofas and other furniture: the products of a household that had lost its home. He was just trying to get through the next few weeks.It was a grim picture and there are few signs it will get better any time soon. Certainly not before the rapidly approaching election on which the voters' rage is now focused. "There is very little that the Democrats can do to change the basic trajectory," said Pitney. Dennis agreed, saying that meant 2010 could end up being an epoch-making election for Republican gains. "My gut feeling is that Republicans are going to do very well. Maybe even extraordinarily well," he said.But back on Haight Street the spirit of Democratic optimism lived on alongside the fading and ragged vestiges of the original Summer of Love. "I don't think it is a done deal at all that they [the Republicans] will win. That is just defeatist," Coulter said, though she admitted that San Francisco was a "liberal bubble" in which to live. For a moment she allowed a flicker of doubt to question her belief that the Democrats could rescue the situation. "I know this city is always going to be very liberal," she said. "But I really don't know what is happening in the rest of the state." One way or another – in brutal defeat or remarkable political escape – Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are going to find out soon.US midterm elections 2010Nancy PelosiDemocratsUS politicsPaul Harrisguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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Israeli police clash with Arab youths Police fire teargas at youths who pelt them with stones as far-right Israeli activists march through Arab cityClashes between Israeli police and local protesters erupted in one of the country's main Arab cities today, as far-right Israeli activists attempted to march though the streets of Umm al-Fahm.Hundreds of police separated the demonstrators from the local population for more than two hours, shooting teargas and stun grenades at Arab youths who pelted them with stones.Tensions between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority of Israel have been high in recent weeks, after the government proposed a controversial loyalty oath bill for non-Jewish immigrants."This rally is a provocative action," said Wasim Abbas, 31, an Arab protester."Baruch Marzel [one of the rightwing organisers] represents the racist movement in Israel."Many Jews come to Umm al-Fahm every day and we have no problem, but Marzel and his gang come as enemies and we want to tell them that they are not welcome to ..." Before he could finish his sentence police fired a volley of stun grenades, provoking a stampede.Helicopters and a blimp patrolled the sky. Dozens of Arab protesters, whose heads were wrapped in Palestinian scarves, threw stones and set fire to tyres and rubbish bins while chanting "Allahu Akbar" [God is greater].Nine Arabs were arrested and at least a dozen people injured, among them four policemen and two Arab members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.A far-right group called Our Land of Israel organised the march to ask the Israeli government to outlaw the northern branch of the Islamic movement.Umm al-Fahm is the stronghold of the party, which boycotts parliamentary elections and shares the same ideological roots as Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group."We have there a cancer of the Islamic movement that wants to destroy the state of Israel," Marzel was quoted as telling his supporters before the march.Police had initially prohibited the march, fearing violence, but a high court ruling accepted the appeal of the far-right organisation.Around 20% of Israelis are Arab citizens. They say they feel discriminated against by the government and the Jewish majority in the country.Tensions between the communities are on the rise since the beginning of the month, when the Israeli government proposed a law requiring new non-Jewish citizens to swear an oath of allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state".IsraelMiddle EastJudaismIslamHamasguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |