Thoughts on Massachusetts

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, January 23rd, 2010 - 3 comments
Categories: obama - Tags:

I enjoyed this piece by Jane Young over on Pundit so much I wanted to share:

The brain in the White House appears to have been outsmarted by the brawn of a nude centrefold, as Obama’s filibuster-proof Senate number has been whipped away by a man once voted America’s Sexiest Man. You couldn’t make this stuff up….Having snatched the late Ted Kennedy’s seat faster than you could arrange a Cosmo spread, Brown has gone from wearing nothing but a smile to wiping the smile right off the face of the Obama administration…

The White House knows the numbers no longer add up, but Obama has only himself to blame for that by trying to be too inclusive of the Republicans. He should have known that consensus Republican-style means only what Republicans want.

Lessons for NZ politics? I hope the Maori party are paying attention!

3 comments on “Thoughts on Massachusetts ”

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  1. Lew 1
    23 January 2010 at 9:24 am

    Lots of good stuff on this awful result, and Jane Young is spot on.

    My blogging comrade Pablo’s analysis is very much worth reading, and I think the difference between representation and legislation has some useful parallels for the māori party too.

    Also Drew Westen, who blames the Democrats’ failure to stand on their own electoral authority. Interesting times.

    L

  2. Jenny 2
    23 January 2010 at 1:56 pm

    Just shows you what can happen, left parties try to out-tory the torrys, and not follow through on their promises for radical change.

  3. Pascal's bookie 3
    23 January 2010 at 2:47 pm

    I think the dems are going to take a bit of a hiding in nov, mostly losing the blue dogs (as they are in the states where the teabagging choir sings with the most gusto, and their small liberal support won’t show up). That’s not actually a loss for Obama as they simply haven’t been reliable support in any case. In the liberal states I’m guesssing there will be primary challengers from the disaffected base also causing merry havoc. The GOP will be pushing for impeachment if they get anything like control of a house. You know it’s true.

    The SotU coming up could well be his best hope for making a turning point and getting control of the agenda.

    There are strong signs that he is going to go populist on Wall streets arse with signs that Geithner is being sidelined in favour of Volcker. If that’s the case, it will leave a harder field for GOP populists to play in.

    http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2010/01/getting-the-populist-message.html

    Also worth noting that one of the first things the new Senator from Taxachusetts did was throw the teabaggers off his truck, back up, climb out, and hit them with a shovel:

    http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/trouble-in-paradise-by-digby-brownie.html

    The SC ruling that corp’s are people too, will be huge deal politically, should cause dissonance for the teabagging set, (if the Dems can frame it properly, which is of course fantasy world stuff, I know). The official GOP can only support it, and if the dems can’t eat them alive about it, they need new reps. That Grayson chappie aint leadership material, but you don’t want hundreds of leaders. He’s already lodged a few bills including the Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act.

    http://rawstory.com/2010/01/grayson/

    It’s fluid as all hell and about the only things that’s clear is that the centre doesn’t seem to be holding.