She is really a class-act. Nuf' said. :)

It made me teary too, except the bit when all her grand-kids showed up. Would a man have done that? She reinforced a gender role when she had a great opportunity to challenge one.

Made me teary too. And I'm tough. I loved having her surrounded by her grandkids and yes, lots of the men do that. Once upon a time they didn't but they do now. Besides I had the imaginary vision of a baby in one arm and a knife at crotch level in the other.

It made me teary too, except the bit when all her grand-kids showed up. Would a man have done that? She reinforced a gender role when she had a great opportunity to challenge one.

Ask John Roberts.

I don't have a problem with Pelosi bringing her grandkids. Male politicians show off their sire all the time.

I think it's good to remind people that there's no conflict between being a grandmother and being Speaker of the House.

The look on Hastert's face there is so, so priceless.

Yeah, Hasert's look was priceless.

This was so wonderful today. Wish I had cable at work to see live. Good for her. Now, please, Speaker Pelosi, please be tough without being republican stubborn and taking the gavel and going home when they won't play. Stand tall and hold onto your principals. Give us something to be proud of.

I for one an excited for this Congress. I'm a social worker working with children from Head Start, and there's hope amongst us that now Congress will be able to approve the funding increase that President Cukoo Bananas has denied for years

I don't think having her offspring there is reinforcing anything. If I were involved in something that was so momentous I would certainly wish for my family to be present, because an individual depends upon the support of a large number of people to acheive greatness.

I was lucky enough to see the entire thing live. The only good thing about being home sick. It was awesome and made me a bit misty eyed. I think having her grandkids there was a good thing. Many male public figures do the same thing. It also flies in the face of the "family values" squad. Yes Pelosi is very family oriented, the real kind of family values. CNN also had some live coverage of Ellison's ceremonial swearing in at his office. Before the official photo op he was straightening ties and prompting his kids what they should do in between joking with them. He had his four kids and a huge extended family with him at his office. Looked like he values his family to me.

I love the cut to Hastert with that expression on his face.

What a dramatic moment and day. Sigh.

The only thing that made me teary-eyed was watching all these monsters clap as Pelosi said "partnership not partisanship" -- I think we can look forward to four more years of the same old thing, tragedy after tragedy and no accountability.

Wait -- I'm not sure why I chose for "four years." Let's change it to "years and years."

Wow-- I must be the only pessimist in the bunch. While I have great faith in Pelosi, and I think her achievement is noteworthy, I also remember when Geraldine Ferraro ran for VP she thought she was breaking barriers too.

The problem is that all the ceilings glass, marble and otherwise, are tougher to break down than we think. One woman leader does not break any ceiling.

TRUE PARITY is 50% women in leadership at all levels everywhere. We are so far off from this that celebrating a single woman's success always bums me out a bit.

Let's keep our eyes on the prize.

True parity is hard to achieve and sometimes it could be unfair. If you are best qualified for your position than it shouldn't matter what the sex is. There will be cases where women outnumber men or the other way around.

As a male; am I supposed to look at Pelosi’s accomplishment as a male failure?

If our eyes on the prize is beating each other down then we are very bitter people.

Our eyes and prize should be set on raising our children better. Braking new barriers comes with continuity.

“As a male; am I supposed to look at Pelosi’s accomplishment as a male failure?�

Huh? In your mind women’s success = male failure?!!

Yes, according to the previous poster.

I don't think that's what she meant. She said:

TRUE PARITY is 50% women in leadership at all levels everywhere. We are so far off from this that celebrating a single woman's success always bums me out a bit.

Let's keep our eyes on the prize.

You misinterpreted it and said:

As a male; am I supposed to look at Pelosi’s accomplishment as a male failure?

If our eyes on the prize is beating each other down then we are very bitter people.

She wasn't thinking of male failure but the likelihood that parity will be a win-win-win for women, men and children.