The eye roll said it all.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged from the White House Tuesday with broad, bicameral smiles — until Reid put his arm around Pelosi to announce that “everyone” would support “whatever” Afghanistan policy the president produces.
Pelosi doesn’t agree with that — not at all — and the TV cameras captured the California Democrat rolling her eyes and slightly recoiling from Reid’s grasp as he spoke. Back at the Capitol, Pelosi made it clear that she was angry about Reid’s unilateral offer of unequivocal support, a person familiar with the situation said.
Pelosi insisted Wednesday that it wasn’t so, telling POLITICO that she was “not upset,” adding: “I don’t know where you would have heard such a thing.”
But whatever the precise level of Pelosi’s frustration, this much is clear: If President Barack Obama decides to send more troops to Afghanistan, he risks setting off an internal party struggle on a foreign policy issue that may well define his performance as commander in chief.
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