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What can Sen. Brown do for you? By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on Jan. 21, 2010, in the Connersville News-Examiner. The news out of Massachusetts Tuesday evening was certainly upsetting for some.
Riding his pickup truck and a wave of public discontent, Scott Brown rallied his once trailing campaign to decisively defeat the Democrat’s lackluster offering, the commonwealth’s attorney general Martha Coakley. Compounding the electoral earthquake, Brown captured what had been come to be known as the “Kennedy seat,” the seat held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy since 1962. While this is largely symbolic, the political ramifications will be very real. Brown’s win robs the Democrats of their 60th seat in the U.S. Senate — a supermajority they gained after Pennsylvania’s sinking Arlen Specter jumped ship and Minnesota’s Al Franken clinched the contested seat after months of election shenanigans. Using that majority, the Democrats ran roughshod over the Republicans and the voting public to pass President Barack Obama’s signature issue — a health insurance reform bill opposed by a majority of the American people. Now, however, that majority is finished. Tuesday’s election shot like a spear through the heart of health reform, but the monster isn’t dead yet. As Brown’s campaign began to pick up steam only a couple weeks ago, Democrats began considering maneuvers to pass a final bill, one which is stuck in negotiations between the House and Senate. Senators have repeatedly considered “reconciliation” — the provision in the Senate rules that allows budget bills to be passed without facing a filibuster — as well as strong-arming the House into accepting the Senate’s version of the health reform bill without any changes — something that is sure not to happen since the House bill called for significantly more sweeping changes than those proposed by their Senate counterparts. However, many Democrats are already seeing the writing on the wall. Shortly after Brown’s victory became apparent, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia said the Senate should not hold any further votes on health care until Brown is seated. The president himself has taken notice of the shift in attitudes, telling the media Wednesday that Congressional Democrats shouldn’t exclude the GOP from the health care debate as they have been through much of the process. “The people of Massachusetts spoke,” Obama said. “[Brown has] got to be part of that process.” He also urged Democrats to consider Republican proposals for reform, such as cost controls and aid to small businesses. Those kind of concessions would still probably not be enough to save reform, since strong majorities of Americans oppose centerpiece provisions of the bill. A Rasmussen poll conducted Wednesday showed 63 percent of those polled are against the 40 percent excise tax on the so-called “Cadillac” health plans, and that number jumps to 70 percent when union workers are exempted from the tax. Overall, only 38 percent of Americans support the proposed health care plan, and 47 percent now say the president is handling health care reform poorly. Tuesday’s election also stymies the rest of Obama’s agenda, casting some of his other key proposals — climate change legislation, financial system regulation and immigration reform — into serious doubt. The economically costly “cap and trade” climate change bill, already passed by the House, was on shaky ground in the Senate even before Tuesday, but now that the president and his Democrat allies can no longer ignore Republican concerns, passage is now unlikely. This is, of course, assuming that Brown is a lock to support Republican efforts in the Senate. Brown has already said he will oppose the health care reform plan, but he has also said he will be an “independent voice” in the Senate for the people of Massachusetts. This would not be without precedent, since his other New England GOP Senate colleagues have shown their own independent streaks, to the dismay of Republicans in Congress and across the country. But these concerns are still down the road. In the here and now, Brown’s win signals a growing rejection of the Democrat’s control of Washington — and even Obama’s agenda. “I voted for Obama because I wanted change,” said John Triolo, 38, a Massachusetts registered independent who told the Associated Press he voted for Brown. “I thought he’d bring it to us, but I just don’t like the direction that he’s heading.” This discontent can be seen growing in other parts of the country, and some Democrat-held seats thought safe just days ago may be in danger. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will leave the Senate this year if his fortunes do not change, and Republicans are strongly eyeing Specter’s seat in Pennsylvania, Roland Burris’ seat in Illinois and Kirsten Gillibrand’s seat in New York. Coupled with retirements and party switches in favor of the GOP, control of Congress is up for grabs in November, as is Obama’s agenda and possibly his presidency. The American people — through their proxies in Massachusetts — sent a powerful message Tuesday evening. Regardless of politics, the voters in this country are tired of politicians and leaders who do not listen to their constituents while treating them like ignorant vassals who need to have their hands held by the learned elites in Washington. This is perhaps the biggest thing we can all take away from Tuesday — a sense that the people of this great nation will choose for themselves how they will be governed, and they will throw out any leader who believes otherwise. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2010, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
Amidst the weather reports of snow flurries in Hades and a mysterious rolling sound emanating from the Kennedy section of Arlington National Cemetery came word a Republican pulled off the impossible — winning a New England Senate seat in the bluest of blue states.
