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PELOSI: "It's great pride and great humility that we undertook this great act of patriotism that occurred tonight."

With health care reform under her belt, many say Nancy Pelosi has secured a place in history as the country's most powerful Speaker of the House of Representatives. A House colleague even went so far as to say she put the "steel" in President Obama's spine.

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe, CBS' Leslie Stahl even compared Pelosi to a famous former Prime Minister.

LESLEY STAHL: “She knows how to wield power. She knows how to get things done. And in reading the papers this morning I was reminded of Margaret Thatcher telling George Bush, don’t
be wobbly. She was in there with Obama, saying tough it out… She’s a real force. And people will start writing about her differently I think."

In a CNN special, a Princeton University history professor suggests Pelosi's leadership is solidified.

"U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi emerges from this battle as the real powerhouse in Washington. ... When Kennedy died, many Democrats wondered who would take his place as the party's deal-maker. Now they have their answer."

ABC's Diane Sawyer sat down with the Speaker and asked her how she felt about the flattering felicitations.

SAWYER: "The Economist said you were arguably the most powerful woman in American history. A Brown University professor has said you are certainly the most powerful speaker in 100 years."
PELOSI: "Sounds good. Haha. I don't take it personally. I take it as a compliment for all women."

But The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel is less impressed, saying what matters more is how Speaker Pelosi got health care passed. And the "how," she writes, is pretty underhanded.

"Never before has the average American been treated to such a live-action view of the sordid politics necessary to push a deeply flawed bill to completion. It was dirty deals, open threats, broken promises and disregard for democracy..."

So what do you think of the Speaker? Hero or heel?


Writer: Newsy Staff