There’s an popular Internet clip of President Barack Obama’s address to Congress earlier this year that zeros in on Nancy Pelosi’s enthusiastic clapping during his speech.
“We haven’t seen someone so into clapping since that mother at the second-grade Flutophone concert,” declared an L.A Times blog.
If Pelosi was secretive about favoring Obama during the Democratic presidential primaries last year, she is making up for it now, throwing her support behind the president at nearly every turn and throwing herself as a protective buffer between Obama and the various colicky factions within her caucus.
There may be a limit to Pelosi’s loyalty, however. She is facing pressure from Democrats who want to hold accountable the Bush administration officials who endorsed the use of enhanced interrogation tactics such as waterboarding on detainees.
Obama said it would be a mistake to investigate the matter, but Pelosi nonetheless has indicated she would favor the formation of a “truth commission.” Pelosi went even further, telling reporters that the CIA lawyers who gave waterboarding the green light should not be granted immunity.
Pelosi may be feeling pressured to endorse a full investigation because Republicans have seized on documents released by intelligence officials showing Pelosi was informed about the interrogation tactics back in 2002.
Pelosi said Friday she had one briefing in 2002 “on interrogation techniques the administration was considering using in the future.”
