Jen Rubin here, IPA Fellow. The IPA staff this morning attended a reception called “An Open House to Celebrate the People’s House” hosted by newly elected Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. It was an energetic gathering beginning with a speech by Representative John Lewis who reminisced that his experiences in Washington began in 1961 when he was a “freedom rider” and that he never would have believed then that one day he would be introducing Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the house. In her speech, an excited Pelosi promised to try to work with those on the other side of the aisle when possible, but reassured her audience that when differences were too great, the Democrats would stick to their principles. Pelosi capped off her speech with remarking that when Rep. Lewis called her a powerful woman, she couldn’t resist imitating Rosie the Riveter from the Women in War Jobs campaign by holding up her arm in muscle formation and proclaiming, “We can do it!”