Sully (or whichever of his minions penned the post) said it, but I don't think any savvy political observer would argue to the contrary. (At least, those who aren't wholly committed to a partisan cause.) By all accounts, the Democrats have dropped the ball in a big way in Massachusetts. Coakley seems to be mediocre candidate who has run a lackluster campaign, and if she wins (which seems like a longer and longer shot as time goes by) it will be with a deeply unenthusiastic base of support.
As someone who generally favors most of the Democrats' agenda in Washington, one would think this would bother me more than it does. I certainly don't think Brown is any prize (no matter what Cosmo readers think). But, if there's one thing I expect the nation's leaders to be, it's competent. And if the Democrats are simply too inept to field a winning campaign in Massachusetts, then they deserve to lose. Nobody with an ounce of sense should have allowed a crucial special election of this importance, at such a crucial juncture in Congress's work on health care reform, to have been handled so lackadaisically. Yes, the Democrats are suffering by being in power during an exceptionally difficult time, and so that accounts for some of their trouble right now. But there's no excuse for this kind of piss poor performance.
For all his loose association with the Tea Party set, Brown may yet be the kind of moderate Republican that used to roam the Northeast before being hunted to near extinction by Grover Norquist and Karl Rove. (I'm not holding my breath.) But if Martha Coakley loses, then she didn't deserve to get to the Senate.
Posts
He Got Away With It
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I've sometimes been told that my animosity toward Trump and Trumpism verges
on the irrational -- "Trump Derangement Syndrome", as his most ardent
defende...
2 hours ago
I'm not sure this is being widely said (I've been totally out of touch for the past few days), but why aren't the Democrats crowing that they saved us from the Great Depression? They should be saying it constantly. I get frustrated with the street near that has a sign saying that the funds were provided by "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act." No one knows what that is -- call it the stimulus!
ReplyDeleteHow quickly the tide turns. I'm waiting to see, I still think Mr. Brown is the underdog, but Ms. Coakley seems to be quite the brittle candidate.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Pres. Obama can ride into town and save the day. Surely he's the one to stand up and say "Behold the awesome power of this fully operational stimulus!" Or not.
Elizabeth, I think the Ds have tried to take credit for saving us from the Greatest Depression Evah. The problem is that most people simply don't believe it, and the numbers in jobs, housing, and economic activity back up the perception that the current Administration has been, well, less than mediocre, and the Congressional D majority has been downright dishonest and inept.
The trouble I see, Elizabeth, is that telling people another Great Depression has been preventing is essentially trying to prove a negative. In the absence of job creation, it's a tough sell (even if true) that things would be worse without the stimulus package.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama, President Obama is riding into town tomorrow, (Sunday) to save the day.
ReplyDeleteIf health care had already passed, I really wouldn't care since most of the rest of the Democratic agenda can either be done directly by Obama (like DADT) or issues like Financial regulatory reform or climate change are likely to have more bipartisan support.
ReplyDeletecharo