Why don’t we warm to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi?  Her story is one of those improbable only-in-America tales of achieving the 3rd most powerful position in the country as a grandmother after 15 years in the House working her way up through the ranks. 

And yet, unlike Senator Clinton, she hasn’t claimed the woman-as-victim mantle when it suited her.  She’s just done her job, strong always and partisan when needed.  What’s to complain about?

The issue with Representative Pelosi is the mis-match between the upper and lower parts of her face.  When she smiles, at least in public, it doesn’t extend to her eyes.  Her mouth smiles almost continually at times, and yet the eyes aren’t taking part.  She should give up the fakery, and pick some important moments to be genuine. 

Maybe it’s inevitable – the insincere smile – in Washington DC, where there’s an adder under every rock waiting to bite you.  But it doesn’t help Pelosi’s authenticity.  She’s always got her game face on, and it’s an unconvincing one.  She should take lessons from President-elect Obama, who’s 1000-megawatt smile is authentic, warming his whole face. 

Beyond the mask of the face, Pelosi is in the unenviable position of wielding considerable power without seeming to be able to do much with it.  She’s always in the position of going on television to denounce something the Bush administration is doing, or trying to do, so even among her supporters she begins to look like all she does is complain. 

She presided over the 2006 election-day rout of the Republicans, promising to end the war in Iraq, and then made no obvious progress on that promise.  Of course, we might well wonder how she was going to do it, given that President Bush was commander-in-chief, but then she shouldn’t have promised results if she knew none were going to be forthcoming. 

The Speaker needs to take a lesson from the Obamas, and start living with — and demonstrating — more  authenticity.  It should show up in her game face, and it should show up in the match between rhetoric and accomplishment.