Pelosi Warns Clinton Supporters About “Scorched Earth” Policy

It sounds like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s patience is wearing thin as she watches the the increasingly divisive battle between Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination unfold: she has issued a pointed warning to Clinton supporters about the need for unity ASAP:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Friday warned supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are threatening to take the delegate fight as far as the Democratic National Convention, that they are pursuing “a scorched earth philosophy” that would seriously damage the chances of electing a Democratic president in November.

“There is too much at stake in our country for us to be thinking that we can afford the luxury of intra-party battles eight weeks before the election,” said Pelosi, in her strongest words yet on the battle over seating delegates from Florida and Michigan. “We’ve had many months to have a debate, to come to a conclusion. And one way or another … we have to come together.”

Tomorrow is The Big Showdown when the Democratic Party’s rules committee meets in Washington to decide the fate of the Michigan and Florida delegations. Pelosi told the San Francisco Chronicle earlier in this week that if the Obama-Clinton battle isn’t resolved by then, she will “step in.”

“The American people have to know the Democratic Party can run its own delegate selection process … if they want to govern America,” Pelosi said Friday. “The rules are what the rules are.”

“Instead of talking about process,” Democrats now need to “talk about how we have a progressive economic agenda. … That’s what the American people want to hear about,” she said. “That’s how we can take America in a new direction.”

Pelosi responded to Clinton supporters who have vowed to take the New York Senator’s fight all the way to the floor of the convention – chaired by the Speaker.

“I admire the enthusiasm of those who want to take this to the limit,” Pelosi said. “But it will harm our party’s chances to win in November. Their enthusiasm is wonderful … but it’s a luxury I can’t afford.”

Pelosi stressed again that “a June timetable is one that we (party leaders) all share” to resolve the issue of seating delegates from Florida and Michigan.

Pelosi’s comments were criticized by at least one Clinton supporter:

USA TODAY’s Fredreka Schouten spoke today with Allida Black, a professor at George Washington University and co-founder of the WomenCount PAC, which wants Clinton to get the nomination.

“I thought it was undemocratic,” Black said about what Pelosi told The San Francisco Chronicle yesterday. Never in the history of our party have we precluded any candidate from going to the convention floor. … I’m an elected delegate from the state of Virginia. … She has no right as a leader of this party to say the party has to make a decision before the convention. That’s what the convention was created to do. … I don’t want Nancy Pelosi telling me who my nominee is.”

On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine Clinton’s camp completely ignoring Pelosi who will have a bit of influence at the Democratic convention in Denver: Pelosi will chair the convention and is in touch with many superdelegates. Meanwhile, both Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have asked superdelegates to make up their minds and commit by next week. So if the Clinton campaign wants to take it to the convention, it’ll be doing so as the party’s top Congressional leaders try to get a unified party show immediately on the road.

AP photo by Steven Senne