Sense on Cents

Editor’s note: Martha Coakley just conceded. Earlier today, LD wrote “Why Scott Brown Will Win Today.”  Given the Coakley concession, LD’s original commentary has been slightly adapted and is being reposted  for newer readers to gain his thoughts and insights on this historic, political upset.

Of all the seats in all the states, who would have ever thought that the U.S. Senate seat held by Teddy Kennedy would change the course of our national debate and direction. Why did Scott Brown win today? What did the voters of Massachusetts say?

Political pundits and the media establishment are trying to pin the Democratic loss on the piss-poor campaign run by Martha Coakley. In doing so, they are once again displaying that they are tone deaf and out of step with America.

Over the last year, I have seen and felt our nation get wise to the stench in Washington and on Wall Street. As such, a poorly run Coakley campaign was the least of the factors impacting the race in Massachusetts today. The electorate in the Bay State was unbelievably energized and, in my opinion, delivered Scott Brown and a strong message to Washington for the following reasons:

1. An anti-establishment and anti-incumbent vote. America knows the Washington Way is a major part of our nation’s problem. Republicans should not think the Brown vote and victory is an endorsement of their platform and their people. America wants truth, transparency, and integrity. America is sick and tired of Washington’s lies and self-dealing.

2. An Obama referendum. Barack Obama’s idea of change has proven to be nothing more than Chicago-style backroom politics pushed by his main hack, Rahm Emanuel. This style is exemplified by the ‘bribes’ paid to Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) for their support of Obama’s healthcare reform.

Massachusetts voters have also sent a message that the Obama administration’s forsaking the ways and means of his agenda to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and others on the far left-wing of our political spectrum is unacceptable.

I will credit Obama for some degree of success in combating terrorism overseas, but that has been more than neutralized by the near disaster of the Christmas Day terrorist attempt on the flight into Detroit. Obama has gotten nothing done in terms of financial regulatory reform. Obama’s economic ‘success’ has been nothing more than the ballooning of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet and the financial shell games played by Tim Geithner. Those programs were actually put in place largely by the Bush administration.

America understands these realities like never before. Why? Because Americans aren’t working. Obama’s stimulus plan was largely a political payoff to those who supported his candidacy.

3. A healthcare referendum. The one state in the union that currently has universal healthcare is Massachusetts. The Brown vote and victory was a strong repudiation of this type of reform and the political ‘bribes’ paid to draft the legislation.

4. A vote for transparency. Obama repeatedly campaigned that he’d put the healthcare debate on C-Span. It never happened. Obama’s economic henchmen Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, Ben Bernanke, and Mary Schapiro are viewed as protecting Wall Street while pandering to Main Street. The lack of transparency from the Fed, Treasury, the SEC, and FINRA (Wall Street’s self-regulator) is causing America to vomit. The stench from America’s barf bags being sent to Washington is actually an improvement over the odor filling that town.

These four overriding issues put Scott Brown in a position to shock Washington and its broken political process. Consider the shock delivered and the greatest upset in American politics after Harry Truman’s victory complete.

Not surprisingly we have heard much of the gaffes made by Coakley and her supporters, including Patrick Kennedy, Barack Obama, and CNN’s David Gergen (he of the arrogant question about whether Brown was prepared to vote against healthcare reform from Ted Kennedy’s seat).

These gaffes were not merely errors in political style, but rather an indication that Coakley, her team, and her supporters were out of touch with the electorate.

The four factors highlighted above are coursing through Massachusetts and America. Both Massachusetts and America have shouted and demand to be heard. The political machines from both sides of the aisle are still fully capable of drowning out the American voice for a period. In fact, Washington’s career politicians are still fully capable of never hearing this voice. The Brown victory today has delivered that message not only to Washington’s ears but also right up Washington’s ass.

They deserved it and continue to deserve to get their ass kicked until they address America’s demands for real truth, transparency, and integrity.

Thoughts, comments, constructive criticism always appreciated.

If you like what you read here, please subscribe to all my work via e-mail, anRSS feed, Twitter, or Facebook . . . and please forward this commentary to friends, family, and colleagues and have them do the same. America deserves better. Let’s make it happen.

LD

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 9:22 PM and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.