Scott Brown’s Boston Tea Party

Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts special election over Martha Coakley fifty-two to forty-seven percent. I never expected to be typing those words six months ago. But file this one under "hoist with one's own petard." The reason that a special election took place today is Massachusetts Democrats changed the rules for filling a vacant U.S. seat back when John Kerry ran for President.

Back then, the Governor got to appoint a replacement to serve until the next regular election. But Mitt Romney was governor, and if Kerry won the Democrats didn't want Romney to be able to appoint a Republican replacement. So they changed the selection mechanism to a special election.

The result of those shenanigans is that the majority caucus in the Senate has now lost their 60^th vote. It sort of makes you believe in cosmic justice.

The election of Scott Brown is a major catastrophe for the Democrats. It is a close to a direct rebuke for the President, his party, and his policies, as could happen apart from a Presidential election. Brown kept it simple and focused mostly on his promise to be the 41^st vote to block the health care bills. He didn't limit his campaign to that issue. From Michael Barone's blog:

Scott Brown's victory was not just a rejection of Democrats' health care plans. Brown also stoutly opposed the Democrats' cap-and-trade legislation to reduce carbon emissions. He spoke out strongly for trying terrorists like the Christmas bomber in military tribunals, not in the civil court system where lawyers would advise them to quit talking. He talked about cutting taxes rather than raising them as Democrats are preparing to do.

Brown's victory represents a rejection of Obama administration policies that were a departure from those of the Bush administration. In contrast, on Afghanistan, where Obama is stepping up the fight, Brown backed Obama while his hapless left-wing opponent Martha Coakley was forced (her word) to oppose it to win dovish votes in the Democratic primary.

It strikes me as entertaining and perhaps enlightening that President Obama kept running against George W. for the entire first year of his Presidency and now the only part of his agenda that has not been rejected by the voters is the part that is just what Dubya would have done.

Massachusetts is the microcosm, and the health care legislation is the macrocosm, each serving as the stage for the Democrat's tragic flaw. They are contemptuous of public opinion. When Massachusetts voters reject gay marriage, the legislature overrules them. When it becomes clear that the health care legislation has aroused vehement opposition among the majority of voters nation-wide, Congressional Democrats try to push it through anyway. After all, they know better.

Comments

[George Mason]

Kb; First a point of correction, it is "hoist with ones own petard." A petard is similar to a hand grenade. To "be hoist" is to be blown up. You and everyone, besides Scott Brown, believed this was a safe seat for Obama. This is a lesson for Democrats and Republicans alike. The Dems just learned that they are not universally loved. The Republicans had better learn that freedom is still a
potent issue, even in places like Massachusetts. This election was a repudiation of the political bribery and regulatory overreach that the Obama administration and their minions in congress have attempted.

[Erik]

KB: To say that the Democrats are contemptous of public opinion is a bit much. Obama was elected on a mandate to reform health care and is trying to fulfill that promise. Let's contrast the with Bush the Younger, who in face of public disapproval, kept on going in the Iraq War.

[KB]

George: Thanks for the correction. I have corrected accordingly. I actually looked that one up and got it wrong.

Erik: you make a fair point. Sometimes a President has to do what he thinks is right in spite of public opposition. See Obama on Afghanistan. It would have been all but impossible for Bush to simply pull out. Obama hasn't been able to do it either. Moreover, Bush was reelected in spite of public doubt about Iraq. See: mandate.

But Congressional Democrats are not in a similar position. They do not have to pass these HC bills now. Scott Brown won in part by promising to be the 41st vote against the bills. Put the tea party movement and the polls behind that, and it is pretty clear where public sentiment is. Pushing ahead with a radical reform of the American health care system in the face of majority opposition is not the same as not disengaging from a war in which we were deeply invested.