Although is very obviously sucks that the Rs will be in charge of the House of Representatives next year (especially since the House was the only part of the government operating in a quasi-liberal-friendly fashion), I'd like to draw your attention to something positive that may be going on here:
The House leadership looks to be heading in a more liberal direction. Specifically, Nancy Pelosi appears to be engineering a bit of a coup by squeezing Steny Hoyer completely out of House leadership. :D
So here's the deal. Because they have lost the House, the democrats essentially have one less leadership position. Apparently the thought was that if Pelosi was going to seek the leadership position again, that then everyone in leadership would just have to slide one slot down, including Hoyer.
According to TPM, however, Pelosi wants more liberal members Jim Clyburn and John Larson to keep their spots, and guess what? This leaves no room for Hoyer:
"Most members agree Nancy has earned the right to decide whether to stay in the leadership," the lawmaker said, adding that Hoyer had been pretty clear in the past that he would not challenge Pelosi to be Minority Leader. If everybody were to just take one step down the ladder, that would mean Hoyer would become the Minority Whip. But Pelosi wants current Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) to keep his role when the Democrats become the minority party, which would box Hoyer out.
A Democratic leadership aide insists that the Pelosi and Clyburn decisions were not coordinated.
Part of the reason, according to a third Democratic aide, is that Hoyer and Pelosi still don't really get along. But it's more complicated than just personal rivalries. For one thing, after Tuesday's losses, Hoyer doesn't really represent a significant portion of the caucus anymore.
"Hoyer's hand got much weaker," the lawmaker said. The Democrats became a smaller party Tuesday, but they also became more liberal. In a meaningful way, the leadership team Pelosi imagines -- herself, Clyburn, and Conference Chair John Larson -- matches the liberal bent of the new party. "You'd have a pretty liberal leadership for a pretty liberal caucus," the member said.
TPM titled its post "Inside The Bruising Democratic Leadership Fight: Pelosi Moves To Box Out Hoyer".
Poor Steny. QQ.