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House Speaker shares her thoughts on the Russia-Georgia conflict and her dismay that President Bush attended the Beijing Olympics. (3:29)
 

Full Interview. (21:39)
 

Tavis: I'm always pleased to welcome the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, to this program, especially in-studio. The 11-term congresswoman from San Francisco is now the highest-ranking elected woman in all of U.S. history. The new memoir about her life and career in Congress is called "Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters." Madame Speaker, as always, nice to see you.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Thank you, Tavis, great to be here.

Tavis: How often do you get back home these days here to California? Even though your district is here, you have so much power and responsibility these days; do you get home very often?

Pelosi: As much as possible. As much as possible. It's always invigorating to come to California, and I'm here several times a month. It's just that on the way home, I don't come directly. I'll stop in Chicago or stop in Atlanta or someplace along the way.

Tavis: Do the expectations from your constituents change when you become the Speaker of the House as opposed to - I don't want to call a congressperson random, but when you're the Speaker of the House, do the expectations of your constituents change at all?

Pelosi: Well, I'm very grateful to the people of San Francisco for giving me the latitude to be Speaker of the House, and I think they're proud of that, though I never forget my responsibilities to my constituents, who are my bosses. And so I stay pretty close to them.

Tavis: This book, the subtitle, as I mentioned, is "A Message to America's Daughters." And when I got the book and started looking through it, I was thinking that some of the lessons in here, or many of the lessons in here, are not just for girls, not just for women. Why that subtitle?

Pelosi: Well, so many young women - women in general, or fathers of daughters - have said to me "How did you go from being a housewife to the House Speaker? How did you go from the kitchen to the Congress in the first place?" So I wanted to write the story, other than telling it over and over again, briefly, and as well lessons I've learned along the way that I think are valuable to women.

Certainly, they are hopefully universal enough that they would be useful to men as well, but I think women - there's a tremendous need for women to know their power and to be much more involved in the civic, professional, and political life of our country. We need that diversity - we need all kinds of diversity. And so the reason the lessons are to our daughters is because I want them to create a wave of involvement that will be wholesome for our country.

Tavis: Your story is remarkable for me not just because you go from being a housewife to being the House Speaker, but because you are the mother of five children. You really were.

Pelosi: Five. Five full-time jobs, plus a husband.

Tavis: Yeah, my mother's got you beat; there are 10 of us, but that's another issue.

Pelosi: Oh my gosh.

Tavis: But she ain't the Speaker of the House, either. Well, she is in our house; she's always the speaker of our house. But how do you do that? What is the short story for going from being a mother of five children, making lunches every day, going to soccer matches, taking the kids to school - all the stuff that mothers do - and you end up the Speaker of the House?

Pelosi: Well, your mom can tell you, as a mother of 10, that she is a powerful executive. The focus, the discipline, the sense of organization, the meals, the driving, the rest of it require some leadership. And I said if you can raise a family, you can do anything. It's the most challenging thing. But I have always had an interest in politics - not for myself, just as being raised in a political family. Always watched from a little distance what was going on politically. And one thing led to another after my children were in school all day. And it's in the book, but it wasn't anything that I set out to do.

And none of the lessons that I say in there are anything extraordinary. Your mom could write this book 10 times over. But I'm saying that this is what worked for me, this is what can work for you, and this is what we need in our country, is for women to take - and minorities too - for there to be different views at the table that share the aspirations of the American people.

Tavis: What's your sense, to your point now, of different voices being heard at the table? What's your sense for what women can bring to the table that's different than what we hear around the conversation?

Pelosi: I think women have something very special to bring. You may not know about it, but in my generation they talked about a woman's intuition - this intuitive sense that women have that they can act upon their knowledge and their judgment and they know - they're effective. They want to get a job done.

The spirit of collegiality and collaboration, women - meetings run by women are frequently very different than meetings run by men. I'm not saying that men don't make a powerful contribution. I'm just saying that there has to be diversity at the table. Young women especially today do something I could never have done.

I raised my family, and then I went into politics. They do all of this at the same time. And other women who share their experience want to know that somebody who understands their challenges and their aspirations has a seat at that table. So when women come to the table, they bring the hopes, the dreams, the aspirations of many more people.

They stand on the shoulders of giants, the suffragettes and others who paved the way. They have a responsibility to the future, and they understand it. It's not a casual coming to the table. It's a coming to the table to get a job done with all of the opportunity and responsibility that goes with it. I'm very excited about what should be unleashed on our country.

Tavis: I suspect that along the way, along your journey to the top, to becoming Speaker of the House, like every other woman in the country you experienced sexism in a variety of ways. I guess the question is whether or no the Speaker of the House still gets treated in sexist ways.

Pelosi: Not internally in that Congress, no. That doesn't happen. When you have a gavel, everything else melts away. But I have the gavel because my colleagues have placed their confidence in me. My power springs from the members who elected me Speaker. But sexism does exist in all walks of life in our country. I just move forward. It's their problem. And I think generationally, it's an older generation problem, too. I think the younger generation doesn't see the world in that way, in many respects.

Whatever the difference might be, I think there's much more respect and non-discrimination among younger people. But in the Congress, no. I think that we have put some of that - but mind you, I became Speaker in a very, shall we say, disruptive way.

For over 200 years, this is the most - the male bastion. This is the most serious institution for the status quo in terms of power. So when I went for leadership it was because I wanted to see something different, and that's what we need to do. I'm Speaker as an outsider, and that's why we need to have Barack Obama be President of the United States.

He comes to Washington, just for a short while now, bringing all the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the American people. His status springs from the people, not from longevity in Washington, D.C. And for our country to go in the direction that it needs to go in, we need to change the way Washington works.

Tavis: The flip side of that argument is - and if John McCain were here, I'm sure he'd make the argument - the flip side of that is that when one comes from outside of Washington and hasn't spent time there and doesn't know how the system works, how the process works, doesn't have the experience that a McCain has, is that person qualified to be president? That's the McCain argument, of course.

Pelosi: Yes, of course that's the McCain argument, but look what that experience has brought us, and what John McCain has supported: A war in Iraq which is a catastrophic, historical blunder for our country that he still supports; an economy that is not fair, that is on the downturn, that many people are losing their standard of living - in addition to their jobs and their homes, their standard of living. A budget that is deeply in deficit, an energy policy that hasn't worked for our country.

So all of these things - assaults on the Constitution of the United States - what has experience brought us? We have to change the way Washington works. We need new, disruptive, fresh thinking on the subject, solidly grounded in tradition and honoring the traditions of our country. And the tradition of our country is to make change for people - for people, and not for special interests.

Tavis: There has been and will continue to be, of course, as you know, great debate between now and November about whether or not the country is ready for an African American president. There was great debate when you were running for Speaker of whether or not the country was ready for a woman to be Speaker of the House. What's your sense of whether or not the country is, in fact, ready for an African American to be president?

Pelosi: Well, I think the nomination of Barack Obama indicates that the people are ready.

Tavis: That says Democrats are ready.

Pelosi: Democrats are ready, but -

Tavis: I'm saying all the American people.

Pelosi: Well, nonetheless, if the Democrats vote, Barack Obama will be president. I know that he will have Republican and Independent support as well. But hopefully, the election of Barack Obama will make the question irrelevant. It'll be cause for celebration because we've broken a barrier, but it shouldn't be relevant as to what somebody's talent is because of what his ethnic or racial background is.

But this is historic, this is exciting, this is - and let's face it, we know that just as there's sexism, which is pervasive in certain parts of our society, we know that there are other people who haven't made the transition yet to accepting that anybody can be president - a woman, a minority, an African American, an Hispanic - whoever it happens to be.

But we're talking about the change that our country needs for these very people. Women have the most to gain by Barack Obama being elected. People who aspire to the middle class have the most to gain by Barack Obama being elected President of the United States.

So we want to - he has to make that case about what he will do for the economy and access to healthcare and our energy independence and keeping America safe, and I have every confidence that he will, and he will do it in a way that is transparent, is honest, and is different from the status quo in Washington which has got us where we are today.

Tavis: You acknowledge, of course, that sexism is real, racism is real, and to your point that not everybody in America has made the - you put it very nicely - that we've not all made the transition to accepting -

Pelosi: I think you have. (Laughs)

Tavis: I hope I have. We've not all made the transition to believing that a woman or an African American or any person of color can do X, Y, or Z. What's your sense, then, for the role that race is going to play? And I ask that because you're from California, so you know the story as well as I do. You were here when the guy I used to work for, Tom Bradley, we thought was going to be governor of this state. We went to bed, in fact, thinking that Bradley had been elected governor.

Wake up the next morning, find out that George Deukmejian, instead of Tom Bradley - the Republican Deukmejian ends up winning. You know the story - Tom Bradley did not get elected governor of this state because of what now people refer to as the Bradley effect - there were too many Californians, or certainly a slice of them, who had not made the transition to think that a Black man could be governor.

Although they told the pollsters one thing, they went inside the booth and did something else. So if McCain and Obama right now are running neck-and-neck and you're right about the fact that not everybody has made that transition, what role will race play?

Pelosi: I was chair of the California Democratic Party; I remember very well Tom Bradley that night, and the polls said something different than what happened that night. And the Bradley effect, I think, was of that generation. That was 1982. And here we are, a long time away from there, and I think the country has moved on from that.

I think that Barack Obama will win because he is the better candidate of the two, or how many ever - the best of the field. And we have to recognize that that is there. We cannot be hamstrung by it, we have to win big. We have to reach out for people who are ready for a better future for America, not those who are bogged down by their prejudices.

And so that's why the campaign is a campaign. It's a war term, it's a battle term. It is a fight. This is nothing that says you put your name, you're the better candidate, and probably everybody will figure that out. No, this is a fight, because they will use all kinds of words and phrases and the rest that will be - which will resonate a certain way among a certain number of people. But that's their problem.

Tavis: When you say -

Pelosi: That's their problem. Our challenge is to show a new direction for our country that Barack Obama will bring, and attract enough people to win big. So that that differential at the polls will not be dispositive of the election. Let me say this - those polls are about likely voters. Likely voters are based on past performance - they voted in the last two elections, or whatever their standard is.

Barack Obama is about the future. He's not about past performance; he's about the future, about attracting many millions of new people, as did Hillary Clinton, through the political process, and also people who haven't voted for a long time coming back because they believe in him.

Tavis: To your point now, you twice in this conversation have said that we have to - we, Democrats, that is - have to win big. Is that really possible, do you think? Is it possible for anybody these days? Set the race issue aside, is it possible to have a president anymore who wins big, or is the country so polarized now that every race for the White House, including this one, is going to be a fight to the finish?

Pelosi: I think we have to assume what you just described - that it's a fight to the finish - but I think that as the campaign goes forth and people see something for themselves - we have had for eight years a government that is about the top one percent. The sucking sound you hear is money being drawn from the middle class to the top one percent in every possible aspect of our economy.

And Barack Obama is talking about something different - an economy for the American people, a strength in the middle class which is the backbone of a democracy, and for people who aspire to that middle class; to be in it, to stay in it. And this is completely different. So when these same people who in the past might have been reluctant to try to vote for somebody new see their jobs - we're talking about an economy that produces good paying jobs in America, we're talking about healthcare for all Americans, we're talking about our energy security - you know the list, it goes on.

Then I think some of these other issues sort of fade, and from where I sit as Speaker of the House, it is essential that he be elected, because Washington is a city of the status quo. We're in the situation we're in because decisions were made there to keep us here. We need change, and Barack Obama represents that change for the better.

Tavis: I want to circle back to the book right quick and talk about knowing your power before I wrap our conversation by throwing some issues at you that are in the news today and getting your take on them as Speaker of the House.

We mentioned Hillary Clinton in this conversation once or twice. Your sense now, looking back on what her historic candidacy meant or means for women? What do you think she added to this conversation about women knowing their power, given what she accomplished?

Pelosi: I think that Hillary Clinton emerged from this campaign as probably the most respected political leader in America. She showed that women have a grasp of the issues, she had the intellect, the stamina, the political savvy, the personality to be President of the United States and millions and millions of people responded to her.

So I think she demonstrated, as I said, that a woman can be president and the American people are ready for that. All of us who care about the advancement of women and the advancement of our society are deeply indebted to Hillary Clinton for making this run. She almost won. There was a different outcome. But it doesn't mean that she did not serve and lead very effectively and admirably.

And it's a message to young women that the doors are open - come through them. Don't just say, "Oh, we didn't win, okay, oh, that's too bad." No, we're all opening these doors. Others open them for us. Come through these doors. Because I think one of the bonanzas of Hillary Clinton's campaign will be the vastly increased participation of women in the political and civic life of America, and that will be a very wholesome state of affairs.

Tavis: Let me throw some issues at you while I have you here, in no particular order. Russia and Georgia and this - whatever you want to call it - in-fighting, war, military interference that's going on right now between these two countries.

Pelosi: It was interesting to me to see the news talk about the invasion of Georgia while Putin was just sitting there at the Olympics. There was something wrong with that picture. I saw President Bush talking to him at one point. This invasion did not happen like that. This was something that was planned and timed and waited, maybe, for an opportunity.

But it was - people were being killed, and Putin is sitting in the stands at the Olympics as if nothing is going on. Anyway, there must be a truce. There must be respect for Georgia's boundaries. And there's got to be strong international discussion at the U.N. and others about where we go from here.

Tavis: Does Bush's condemnation at this point in his presidency mean anything? The fact that he's come out and tried to check Mr. Putin on it, does it mean anything at this point?

Pelosi: I think so. The President of the United States is a very important voice, and I don't think you see too much difference in terms of what the president's saying, what Barack Obama is saying, even what - I haven't seen all of what John McCain is saying, but everybody - integrity of the border, have a truce, stop the fighting.

Have a truce and talk about how we - where we go from here. Otherwise, what are the countries - other countries in the region - think about their relationship with Russia if they can just roll the tanks in? Just roll the tanks, and beyond the area of conflict that they were saying was the reason they rolled in. They've rolled into the rest of the country.

This is very, very serious, and they - again, stop the fighting. Protect the integrity of everyone's borders and go from there to make the peace. Maybe we need peacekeepers there, the U.N. and NATO are going to - this is largely a European challenge, as well, and NATO's going to have to play a role there.

Tavis: Since you mentioned the Olympics, did we handle these Olympics being in China the right way? We, the government, Mr. Bush, of course, the person that speaks on behalf of us because he's our president - did we handle this right?

Pelosi: Well, you know what? I have so many complaints against George Bush in terms of the unfairness of the economy in our country, vetoing our children's health legislation, not moving forward on energy independence - the list goes on and on. Challenges to our Constitution, our economy, you name it. I have a long list of - a bill of particulars that I'm unhappy about George Bush.

No sitting president has ever gone to the Olympics outside of our own country. For him to go there and give all the prestige in the world of the presidency to the Chinese government while they are cracking down on human rights in China and Tibet, I didn't - I would have hoped that he didn't do it.

He did go. I hope he talked to the Chinese about barriers to American products going into China, about certainly human rights and freedoms in China and Tibet. I hope that he did that. But I don't see why - here you have the President of the United States anointing this great knight for the Chinese, A; B, you have Putin, who's rolling tanks into Georgia sitting there as if he's watching a movie and eating popcorn - something was wrong with that picture.

But our athletes, they're so magnificent, and I know probably it was exciting for them to have the President of the United States there. I just don't know that it was necessary for any misconception to be conveyed to the Chinese people about our approval of their repression of human rights in China and Tibet.

Tavis: So many issues, and so -

Pelosi: Darfur, and the Sudan -

Tavis: See what I mean? (Laughter)

Pelosi: Darfur and the Sudan.

Tavis: Yeah, seriously, absolutely.

Pelosi: The Chinese are the biggest obstacle to change in Darfur and the Sudan, and in Burma.

Tavis: Yeah, I'm not laughing at the list. I was about to say, to her point now, so many issues, so little time when the Speaker of the House is here. She does have a new book out, though, if you want to read more about what it means to know what your power is specifically for women and young girls. The book, again, called "Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters," written by the Speaker of the House, the first woman ever to be so, and we're proud that she is from the Golden State of California. Madame Speaker, nice to have you here.

Pelosi: Thank you, Tavis.

Tavis: Nice to see you.

Pelosi: My pleasure to be here.

Tavis: The pleasure is mine, as always.

Pelosi: Thank you.