When In Doubt - Expand!

House Democrats have reached a deal to keep both Representatives Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn in the leadership, with Hoyer (D-MD5) serving as minority whip and Clyburn (D-SC6) taking a new, as-yet-still-undefined number three position.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA8) who is seeking the minority leader's job in the next Congress, reached an agreement with Clyburn on late Friday night, and Democratic leaders quickly announced the deal.

Clyburn's title and responsibilities were not specified in the announcement from Pelosi's office, and Democratic leadership aides scrambled to explain the deal to reporters.

Well, now, isn't this fascinating.  Nancy Pelosi, who is more responsible than any other single Democrat for last week's electoral apocalypse, refuses to accept any blame for it and insists on keeping the caucus's top spot.  Steny Hoyer, the rightful heir apparent, is too castrated to take the old bag out behind the Capitol and give her the Old Yeller treatment but is only too willing to elbow Jim Clyburn out of the way for his whip job, which Clyburn proves, understandably, less than eager to relinquish for an old, metrosexualized white cracker.  So what does Queen Facelift do?  Lynch Clyburn while pretending to keep him in the leadership with a role undefined, untitled, but which reeks of figurative bellhopping.

So what's House Democrats' new token Coffee-Bringer got to say for his humiliating demotion?  There's a perfect metaphor for it, but I'll let you try and discern it first:

A source close to Clyburn said one of his "primary concerns was maintaining a diversity in leadership that reflected" the makeup the Democratic Caucus. More than one-fifth of House Democrats will be CBC members in the 112th Congress, making it one of the most powerful bloc of votes from Democratic leaders.

This source added that "a significant number of members withheld their support for either candidate because they did not want the whip contest to come to a vote."

"This solution honors the diversity of the caucus as well as the wishes of a majority of the caucus that he remain number three in leadership," the source said.

For the record, the metaphor was, "Yes, massa, would you like one lump or two?"

Yeah, sure, Clyburn's still "number three" - but in name only.  In essense, Pelosi stole Hoyer's job, she's just given Hoyer Clyburn's job, and John Larson, the conference chairman and #4 slotholder, still has HIS job.  Why didn't San Fran Nan bump Larson for Clyburn's sake?  And why isn't Clyburn raising unshirted hell about it, as he has every right to do?

We know why, don't we?  Just as we know it'll never be spoken of publicly like it would if (all together now) Clyburn were a Republican.  AKA just wait until Micheal Steele is ousted as RNC chairman.

Exit solace: Not everybody in the CBC is thrilled with this game of racist musical chairs.  Now let's see if it so much as plants a seed of eventual independent thinking.