People want to put a lot of blame for the current conditions of the nation -- from the bad economy to the heightened partisanship -- on Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. There is certainly a level of truth to that, but perhaps not as much as one would think. In a few weeks, one of the primary political players responsible for both the batch of controversial legislation coming from Congress and the elevation of partisan animosity swirling on Capitol Hill will walk away from her post. A lower profile will allow her political legacy to begin fading into the kind of historical obscurity that no president would ever enjoy.

And in the anonymity that the passage of time will give her, current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will be able to avoid a deserved wave of criticism for her years of vilifying Bush, undermining the nation's war efforts during a time when our young people were serving in harm's way, and overseeing some of the worst backroom deals imaginable to pass unpopular and expensive legislation -- all while the country further divided itself along party lines.

Make no mistake about it: For years now, most Republicans and conservatives across the nation have cast Pelosi as a villain -- and rightfully so. The successful Republican National Committee campaign "Fire Pelosi" was the subject of a bus tour that summed up the sentiment of the political right: President Obama may not be right for America, but Speaker Pelosi must be immediately removed from power within Congress because of her style of leadership. Her record justifies those sentiments, although those who don't study history, as well as those who have a political junkie's attention span, will soon forget how Pelosi contributed to the mess in which we currently find ourselves.