Nancy Pelosi exhibits deft leadership skills and is a master of political maneuvering when it really counts:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday would not commit to holding a vote on a bill to do away with the annual cost-of-living increases. She pointed out that Congress recognized the economic crisis by voting this week to skip next year’s raise.

Everyone needs to buckle down and make sacrifices, but don’t expect Congress to make very many. The past two weeks I’ve been struck by how deeply unserious a place Washington is. Take last week’s fuss over Michael Steele’s comments about – and rapid apology to – Rush Limbaugh… Politico’s story from March 4th says all we need to know in the first paragraph.

Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.

Millions of people listen to Rush every week. I am not one of them because politics annoys me enough when I’m barely paying attention, but I agree with just about all of Rush’s opinions I’m familiar with. Most of them line up with what should be the core of the GOP: lower taxes, minimal government intervention, vigorous national defense. I wish there were more elected officials who could communicate like Rush at his best! Sadly, the DNC only wants to talk about how offensive Limbaugh can be. Um… he’s a talk show host , right?

Does it matter that Treasury Secretary Geithner still has provided few specifics on the Obama Administration’s bank rescue plan? That Barney Frank and Chris Dodd continue to influence American lending policy? That when President Obama brags of spending cuts, he means tax increases and fudged Iraq projections? That instead of correcting unrealistic accounting rules and terrible lending regulations, we’re “stimulating” the economy with more entitlement debt? The list goes on, but the answer is always: No. It does not matter.

Currently, the focus is on Michael Steele and how he’s not ready for primetime. Tomorrow maybe the story will revert to “If it’s broken, Bush broke it,” or talk of how Republicans are the party of “the wealthiest 2%,” or promises of lifelong employment in green energy and lollipop manufacturing. Bottom line, it’s all messaging, and the billions wasted are simply one more talking point for the opposing sides to spin. And we elected them.