Less than one week after the election, just under two months until the swearing in, and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.) has already begun to shake things up on Capitol Hill. The big news today seems to be her support of John Murtha (D-PA.) for House Majority Leader. After pledging bipartisanship and cooperation, this endorsement cannot be seen as anything but antagonistic and divisive. Murtha has repeatedly called for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, as opposed to the more moderate Steny Hoyer (D-MD.), who has been quoted as saying that too rapid of a withdrawal would be a "disaster."

The election last week has been called a referendum on the Iraq war, which is a dubious claim at best. This is underscored by the fact that many of the Democrats elected were more conservative than many Democrats currently serving in Congress, and that the liberal views of Nancy Pelosi do not accurately reflect the Democratic majority in Congress. The choice of House Majority Leader gives conservative Democrats a chance to put some distance between themselves and the extreme left wing of their party, showing a more moderate side that more accurately reflects their voting base, and at the same time repudiates that the entire election was a refenderum on Iraq.

In other words, if Murtha gets chosen as House Majority Leader, the "Chicken Little" pundits will have been right -- San Francisco values have taken over. But if Steny Hoyer is chosen, the moderate middle of the Democratic party will have asserted itself against the Pelosi-Murtha faction, and we will all rest a little easier.