Ahem.
People seem to have forgotten that Pelosi was a member of the CPC before becoming leader. She only left because she refuses to join an ideological caucus as leader of the entire party.
I believe Pelosi was one of the founding members of the Progressive Caucus. What exactly has she done to anger progressives so much?
Mostly optics I guess? She's been fantastic with keeping the congress critters moving together (which is one of the reasons Republicans despise her). And in the instance she hasn't been able to do as much as wanted, she's been very careful with compromises to get the votes necessary for passage (best example I can think of for this is Obamacare of course).
The optics issue is that independent of what she does, which tends to be very progressive in total, about as much so as the total body of the democrats can pull off, she still speaks the language of compromise with regard to reasonable asks. And to some, this is awful and no good as it ignores her behavior and other statements where its made clear where she (and most if not all of the party) stands on the things that might make one so aghast. Its workable to negotiate and compromise on say a funding bill in a divided congress/government as there's no way you can get all of your priorities funded without some give to the priorities of the other party. But if the ask from the Republicans is something totally ridiculous (ban abortion, fund the wall with no protection for daca folks, ect) then her past behavior makes it clear she, and the party, will have no part in such silliness and most anything like that won't even get a vote in the house with Pelosi at the helm.
The other end that gripes about her are those who actually want more compromise to the Republicans, even on the more wtf asks because playing nice is seen as fantastic optics by such folks. Despite every time the dems have tried to work with the Republicans the last decade or so its always bit them in the backside. Nope, gotta ignore history, and gotta bend over backwards to look like the government is doing something good or bad, or else oh no we're for sure going to lose reelection despite most those saying this are either not in government or not in at risk seats. So it does kind of smell like there's something else going on as far as motivations, but even on the top level is really really silly and counter productive.
Personally, I think Pelosi has done a fantastic job. There are things I'm not super keen on her for in the past, but given how effective she's been, I can hardly feel compelled to toss her. In the long run I hope she is well on her way to training up the next generation of leaders who are both as (or more) progressive as she is and is as capable of keeping the congress critters organized and generally unified. This is mostly because she is getting up in years and I don't want the house to suddenly be leaderless without someone ready and able to take over. But a change in power now is not necessary or useful honestly.
I completely agree with this--operationally she's the best we can get.
I think that she doesn't really present a compelling vision for left/progressive ideas. Moreover, she can be somewhat tone-deaf on some identity issues. There are more and more divides in the Dems between people of color and white feminists. And with establishment gays and activst LGBTQ folks. Pelosi definitely represents the establishment and has diminishing credibility with the left flank of the party.
As party leader, notwithstanding her personal skills, this creates challenges because one of your most important jobs is to get your party's left flank to sign-on to necessary compromises. (This is where the GOP had so many problems).
For that reason Rep. Karen Bass is the most logical successor. Her views are almost identical to Pelosi plus she has strong connections to all of the interest groups in the party. As a black woman, she would have more credibility with communities of color than Pelosi and would be more fluent in speaking to those audiences. Meanwhile, her persona is more relatable than Pelosi's patrician presentation.
That said, Speaker Pelosi is probably unmatched in history in her ability to control the House. Even as a Minority Leader, she had considerable power. At this point, if we get a trifecta again, it may be useful to have her around.
But, for chrissakes, can we please toss-out Hoyer and Clyburn!
