This isn't the moment to
demean the word catastrophe, but the quite overwhelming victory of Republican
Scott Brown for the office of Senator from Massachusetts is very, very bad news
for the Democratic Party and Barack Obama.
First, this is the seat of
the old lion Ted Kennedy, the last incarnation of the respected American left
until his death last August. It has been won by a 50-year-old lawyer apparently
proud of his virility and his "pick-up truck," a populist, an
"anti-politician," a representative of civil society who, in fact,
was initiated into politics in the early 1990s with the conservative
revolutionary wave that posed so many problems for Bill Clinton.
Brown is also an especially
excellent campaigner, and it does no harm to his ego that in 1982, he posed
nude in Cosmopolitan Magazine as the sexiest man in America. He's also a
member of the National Guard - a patriot. A dream catalyst for a general revolt
against the disgraced political class.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
His opponent was a respected
attorney general - the Justice Minister of Massachusetts: Democrat
Martha Coakley failed miserably in terms of political sensitivity. By going on
vacation after winning the Democratic primary, the candidate confirmed that she
considered the election a mere formality. She judged it unnecessary to fully
mobilize a political machine reputed to be unstoppable. Black and Latino voters
were hardly addressed by her campaign. She didn't see it coming. And neither
did Washington.
Just ten months before
decisive Congressional elections, Obama may consider this a warning shot for
his presidency. Meanwhile, in the Senate he can only count on a majority of 59 seats
rather than 60, the magic number that would have allowed him to win the vote on
health reform without the risk of having debate blocked by the opposition. Will
Republicans demand more compromises than they obtained before the last vote of
the Senate? And at the risk of destroying any hope of reform?
