Her polarising legacy

First woman: Pelosi, surrounded by children, wielding the gavel for the first time after being elected Speaker of the House on Jan 4, 2007. — Photos: TNS

THE Nancy Pelosi era is over, her recent decision to step down as US House Speaker being the coda to the story of arguably the most effective – and most polarising – American political figure of the 21st century.

Pelosi, the first woman, the first Californian and the first Italian-American to become Speaker in the United States, said she never thought she would go from “homemaker to House Speaker”.