House speaker
Nancy Pelosi acknowledged Monday that Democrats are not yet
united following the bitter primary fight that divided
supporters of likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama
and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Asked by
reporters about female voters' comfort level with Obama,
Pelosi said women show a strong preference for Obama
in public opinion polls. A "gender gap" in Obama's
favor had emerged "even before the convention, and
even before the complete reconciliation that we need,"
she said.
Pelosi, who is
chairwoman of the convention by virtue of her post as
House speaker, brushed off a question about that
reconciliation effort.
"The nomination
is decided, we have a vice president, we're going to
work together and go forward," she said, adding that all 12
national conventions she has attended have been marked
by contentiousness.
"But to stay
wallowing in all of this is not productive," she said.
"So we can talk about this forever, or we can talk about how
we're going to take our message to the American people, to
women all across America, to see the distinctions"
between Obama and Republican candidate John McCain.
What matters is
Americans' unease about the economy and such issues as
privacy rights, Pelosi said. She picked up the same theme
later at a speech to hundreds of California delegates,
saying they owed Americans "more than to get subsumed
in process."
Pelosi chastised
journalists for fixating on conflicts between Obama and
Clinton supporters.
"You know what?
This is like a yesterday room," she told the
reporters. "We are going into the future. What did I walk
into, a time capsule?" (AP)
