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By Gene Quinn |
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Yesterday a shot was fired across the bow of the USS Democratic Party. Surprisingly, the shot was fired by voters in Massachusetts, perhaps one of the most liberal states in America, who elected Republican Scott Brown to the United States Senate. It is certainly true that Massachusetts will vote Republican for Chief Executive, as evidenced by the Commonwealth electing Governors Bill Weld and Mitt Romney, among others, and voting twice for President Ronald Reagan (see 1984 map and 1980 map), but when it comes to the State Legislature and the US Congress, Massachusetts, referred to by Sean Hannity as the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, decidedly slants to the left and is about as solid a blue State as you can find. I personally think it is way over the top to refer to Massachusetts as “the People’s Republic,” which obviously seeks to compare the Commonwealth with China, but there is no doubting that if Democrats cannot hold on to the Senate seat held by the late Senator Ted Kennedy then this foretells troubled times on the horizon for the Democrats and Obama’s change agenda.
Political observers no doubt knew that the tide was turning against Democratic Senate Candidate Martha Coakley, who mocked Scott Brown for going to Fenway to schmooze with voters and attend the NHL Winter Classic between the Flyers and Bruins at Fenway Park on January 1, 2010. She even called Curt Schilling a Yankee fan, seemingly not knowing who he was, and only after being told he was the Red Sox of bloody sock fame admitted a mistake and claiming it was a bad joke. A very bad joke indeed! Having lived in New England for years one thing is true above all others — the Red Sox and Fenway are sacred. Not knowing that clearly demonstrated she was out of touch, and visiting Washington, DC to raise funds from lobbyists several days out from the election really confirmed that she wasn’t understanding the sentiment of the people. Of course, the Nebraska and Louisiana purchases relating to health care didn’t help.
Then, the final straw and kiss of death for Coakley; namely an emergency visit from President Obama via Air Force One on Sunday to campaign on her behalf. It didn’t work in Virginia, arguably a purple state, it didn’t work in New Jersey, a blue state, and it didn’t work in Massachusetts. On the election trail on Sunday he was perceived to mock Scott Brown for driving a pickup truck having 200,000+ miles on it. I don’t know whether that was Obama’s intention, but his remarks, and the remarks of Senator John Kerry, easily seemed elitist and mocking toward a guy who has the audacity to own a truck and be like millions of other Americans, me included. For crying out loud, it is an American truck! Can Obama really be that out of touch? His truck mocking reminded me of when he jokingly compared his bowling game to the Special Olympics. Obama still hasn’t figured out what it means to be President and that every word choice matters. Talk about an elite academic in an ivory tower!
In any event, last week the White House started leaking that Coakley was a weak candidate and running a poor race. That is undoubtedly true, but even with her well publicized gaffs she still should have been able to win in Massachusetts. Yet, just as the White House did with Creigh Deeds, who ran for and lost the Virginia Governor’s race by 20%, they started distancing themselves even before the vote so as to try and insulate the President. Newsflash Mr. President… this vote was about you and your agenda and unless you get that and change course quickly a la Bill Clinton in 1994, you will lead Democrats to slaughter in the 2010 election cycle, which admittedly would be fine with me.
It is ironic that just 1 year after President Obama was sworn into Office his party was unable to retain the Senate seat held by Senator Ted Kennedy and his brother, President John Kennedy, before him. This is what happens when you make promises on the campaign trail and then never follow through, like promising transparency with respect to the health care debate and then doing all negotiations behind closed doors. In fairness to the President, however, I think he was very honest on the campaign trail. He told us exactly what his agenda would be, from health care to cap and trade to stimulus spending and more. No one listened to the particulars, or perhaps it is better to say no one believed he would follow through so closely to his promises. He promised health care for every American, to clean up the environment in a radical way and to spend, spend and spend more. The trouble is he said it wouldn’t cost us any money and taxes wouldn’t raise. Anyone who was being honest with themselves knew that Obama was either not being honest about his agenda or lying about the cost of the agenda and taxes. As it turns out he told the truth about his radical agenda, the liberal media did not probe at all and our economy is stagnant because everyone is scared to death about the future. That is why Coakley lost.
Yes, Scott Brown ran a great campaign, but so did Mitt Romney when he ran for Senate against Ted Kennedy in 1994. The truth is that great campaigns by Republican Congressional Candidates in Massachusetts is not enough, until now. This was a stunning rebuke of the Obama agenda, make no mistake. Obama has lost his star power, failing to assist in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts, all states he won overwhelmingly just 15 months ago. Obama is over exposed, and crowds openly mock his campaign slogans, chanting “Yes We Can” at Republican events. In 2008 people voted for change they can believe in, not change they can’t believe!
Obama and his Democrat allies badly miscalculated the mood of the country and took his election to be an indication of a mandate. But lets not forget, the popular press campaigned for Obama every night on the news. They cut Hillary Clinton to shreds and did much the same to John McCain. Wall Street collapsed, and President Bush was very unpopular. With this perfect storm Obama won. It was not because of his agenda, but rather in spite of his agenda, and that truth now seems clear to everyone, expect those in the White House. To all Democrats up for re-election in 2010 — it is time to go into self-preservation mode, physically stay at least a country mile away from Obama, and even further away from his agenda.
Tags: bill weld, Congress, Election 2010, Health Care, hillary clinton, martha coakley, mitt romney, obama, scott brown, senate, ted kennedy
Posted in Congress, Election 2010, Obama | Comments (1)
January 20th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Nice blog, Gene! Who would have even guessed four weeks ago a Senator from Mass. would change the balance in the Senate?? I (like the Coakley campaign, I guess) was caught completely off guard.
In Coakley’s concession speech, she seemed to acknowledge that people were (rightfully?) upset about health care…. Maybe it’s becoming clearer to all.