It wasn’t supposed to happen.
A pick-up truck driving, conservative-sounding candidate was not supposed to win the Massachusetts Senate seat vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy.
There was no chance the unknown, Scott Brown, would defeat the entitled liberal Democrat, Martha Coakley, in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-1.
After all, the Massachusetts Senate was owned by the Democratic Party. It was Ted Kennedy’s for over four decades. A Republican hadn’t won a Senate race here since 1972.
And it looked like a shoo-in. Just a few months ago polls had Coakley ahead by over 30 points.
Yet as the election approached, the polls began to tighten. Brown’s pick-up truck campaign gained steam, while Coakley suffered a series of missteps.
Not to worry, the Democratic National Committee and their union supporters barraged the Massachusetts’ airways airwaves with negative ads intended to end this Brown nonsense for good.
A Republican winning in Massachusetts. A Republican breaking the death grip Democrats held on the Senate.
Forget it.
Then, the weekend before the election, out came the big gun – President Obama –stumping for Coakley in her home state.
President Obama responded with his typically well-delivered rhetoric intended to rally the base. But there was an edge to his delivery. Elitism was in the air as he scoffed at Brown, often poking fun at his pick-up truck.
So sure and confident was President Obama.
And almost a year to the day since President Obama’s Inauguration, Scott Brown defeated Martha Coakley in a stunning upset.
What a devastating loss for the Democratic Party. What a blow to President Obama, who just two days before put his prestige on the line for Coakley.
The finger-pointing started immediately. Coakley was blamed straight away.
Certainly Coakley was a flawed candidate, having had her share of “terrorists are gone from Afghanistan” moments. But gaffes never stopped a liberal from getting elected in an exceptionally liberal state. It was something different. Something larger.
The defeat wasn’t just about Coakley. It wasn’t just about a Massachusetts Senate seat. It didn’t fit the mold of “all politics are local.”
Coakley was the current target of opportunity for an angry public. She represented the beltway establishment whose policies the people grew to despise.
Coakley was the envoy carrying the message of the “Hope and Change” government. After a year the people had enough. They sent her packing.
As the Obama Administration and Democratic majority pick themselves up off the mat, perhaps they should retrace the events that led to this dramatic knock out.
The gubernatorial losses in New Jersey and Virginia were warning signs of a growing political storm. Attendance at Town Hall meetings and Tea Parties swelled as Americans became more incensed with unabated government growth and power.
The signals were ignored, waved off by the Obama Administration with an arrogant, big government hand. Instead of listening, government mocked. It slandered citizens that challenged overbearing government as “unpatriotic” or worse.
The Obama Administration appears to be operating on the principle of “government knows best.” In doing so, it ignores a number of standards and expectations held by a majority of Americans to include:
- The United States is a center/right country. No flowery speech will change that.
- Capitalism is preferred over socialism.
- Government will listen to the will of the people, not be driven by government’s own ideology.
- Government will address the economy during a recession, not make recession worse by incapacitating the free market system with big government policies.
- Government will preserve freedom and liberty, not take it from us through government expansion.
- Government will practice fiscal responsibility, not spend wildly and accumulate debt for future generations to pay.
- Government will temper its involvement in the private sector, not take it over and mold it in government’s image.
- Government will be honest. When government takes $870 billion of tax payer money with the promise to stimulate the economy and keep unemployment at 8%, then it better deliver. But when the stimulus fails, the money is unaccounted for, and unemployment reaches 10%, don’t blame someone else for the current government’s failures.
- Government will be honest (2). If government promises transparency then it should not operate in secrecy by cutting dirty deals in the dead of night.
- Government will be honest (3). If government says it intends to end favors for special interests then do it. Do not pick the special interests that favor government and create encouraging bargains for them.
- Government will protect our Constitutional rights, not extend them to terrorists captured on the battlefield or terrorists known to have played a part in slaughtering Americans.
The people expect government to allow wage earners to keep as much of their hard-earned dollars as possible. The people do not expect government to take from them to support a government-defined, wealth redistribution scheme.
The people became increasingly uncomfortable – irate – as government took control of parts of the financial and automotive sectors. The grand prize remains government control of health care, which is opposed by over 55% of the population.
The people said, “Enough.”
Coakley’s defeat was a clear rebuke of the Obama Administration’s “Hope and Change” policies that have done little to put Americans back to work, but have grown a more intrusive government.
The people said, “Stop.”
However, the defeat of Coakley and dissatisfaction with the Obama Administration is not an endorsement of the Republican Party.
It was growth and spending by Republicans and the Bush Administration that left people looking for alternatives. To some extent, Republicans are responsible for helping to create the big government the people are fighting against today.
The people remain wary – of both parties. In the long run, the party that exercises limited government and fiscal responsibility will win.
Time will define Scott Brown as a Senator. But for now, he tapped into what the people want. He traveled in his pick-up truck and talked to the people. He listened. He identified all the things that are wrong with government and promised to work to fix them. It is now his turn to deliver.
Yet for a moment in time, Brown broke the code. He told the people what they wanted to hear: It not about what government wants. It’s not about one person.
It’s about the people.
It’s the people’s seat.
God Bless our troops in harm’s way.
Poz
Updated 25 January 2010 (Corrected “airways” to read “airwaves”)
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