Juan Williams: Pelosi shows her power

If you are betting on politics, here’s my advice — put your money on Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiBiden heading to Michigan to promote agenda amid Democratic infighting Schumer sets one-month goal for passing two spending bills Christie: 2020 Joe Biden ‘is now officially dead and buried’ MORE (D-Calif.).

Historian Robert Caro famously crowned Lyndon Johnson the “Master of the Senate.”

After last week, it’s clear Pelosi is his equal in the House.

In the darkest hours, as House Democrats publicly feuded over two big spending bills, it looked like the Biden presidency and congressional Democrats’ chances in the 2022 midterms were going down in flames.

Cue the doom and gloom music. Get ready to watch Republicans snickering as they celebrate stories of Democrats in disarray.

But like the movie hero Indiana Jones, Pelosi managed to escape her Temple of Doom.

She began by reminding her razor-thin majority of House Democrats — her party cannot afford to lose more than four votes on any measure — that winning passage of both bills is far more important than the timing of the votes.

That meant a promised Thursday vote was no longer a hill to die on.

And, in tandem with President BidenJoe BidenAfghanistan’s ambassador on whether Afghans will trust a U.S. president again: ‘Not soon’ Biden heading to Michigan to promote agenda amid Democratic infighting Manchin clashes with fellow Democrats over fossil-fuel demands MORE, she kept control by reminding fellow Democrats of the larger political stakes. Both bills are part of Biden’s agenda, an agenda that is supported by both moderates and progressives. Polls show public support as well.

As Pelosi told The Atlantic recently, Biden’s agenda is being compared to President Franklin Roosevelt’s historic New Deal, but Roosevelt “had 319 Democrats in Congress” while she and Biden are hanging on by their fingertips.

That’s why historians will marvel at the death-defying moves she used to keep the Democrats alive.

Here’s the story you will see in the history books:

As Democrats struggled through their dark night of turbulence, expressions of dissent about the 81-year-old Pelosi steering the ship were kept to a minimum.

Even Senate Democrats treated her with respect.

She pressured Sens. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinManchin clashes with fellow Democrats over fossil-fuel demands Schumer sets one-month goal for passing two spending bills Jayapal: .5 trillion reconciliation bill is ‘not going to happen’ MORE (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten SinemaKyrsten SinemaSchumer sets one-month goal for passing two spending bills Democrats offer array of options for passing stalled infrastructure, reconciliation bills Christie: 2020 Joe Biden ‘is now officially dead and buried’ MORE (D-Ariz.) to say clearly how big a price tag they will abide for a reconciliation bill.

“I would never ever think about telling Nancy how [to run] her operation,” Manchin said. “She knows what she is doing.”

Then Manchin went public with a price…