Some of my favorite football highlights actually serve as mini lessons in life. Leon Lett and Don Beebe represent my very favorite example. Lett picked up a fumble and was rumbling towards the end zone, but he began to showboat before he scored. Don Beebe caught up to him and stripped him of the football, humiliating Lett in front of a Super Bowl audience, and teaching the world an important lesson; do not celebrate until after you score.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be wise to learn from Leon Lett. Her display on the U.S. Capitol steps reminded me of someone who is celebrating well before crossing the finish line.
If you missed it, Pelosi announced that the House had reached an “historic moment” with the introduction of a new health care bill that House Democrats have agreed upon and hope to vote on as early as next week.
I’m not going to get into the details of the bill because covering even the highlights of the 1,990 page bill would be a bit daunting. Instead, I am wondering out loud why Pelosi held her celebration moment when she did.
It would seem she’s celebrating far too early. Why not wait until President Obama is signing the historic legislation into law?
I have a theory. You knew that was coming, right?
I think you make a big announcement and call it an “historic moment” now because this is the last time she’ll see her bill unscathed. Everyone knows the adage that making laws is like making sausage. Well, making Health Care Reform into law is going to be such a violent process that it will make a Quentin Tarantino movie look like an episode of Sesame Street.
Pelosi’s not going to want to celebrate this “historic moment” after this bill gets through the Senate and then a joint conference committee. Much of her original bill may indeed survive the carnage, but it will likely look very different than it does right now.
So, if you’re going to celebrate, do it when things have yet to get ugly.
There’s one more thing.
If this legislation finally passes, it won’t be her celebration, it will belong to President Obama. She better enjoy her limelight now, because at the signing ceremony in the Rose Garden, she’ll be lucky to play a supporting role at best.
So considering the details, Pelosi really isn’t showboating early; she’s showboating during the only moment she can. In a few weeks, her bill will suffer a number of amendments and compromises and may not be something she entirely wants to celebrate. And if she’s lucky to get most of it passed, somebody else will be spiking the ball.
In the end, maybe Leon Lett isn’t the right lesson for Speaker Pelosi. Maybe it’s Don King. Make all the hay you can before things get bloody and before the press wants to talk to the real champ, and not you.
Only in America.