Actually I wasn’t born in ‘85 but that was our trivia team name tonight. Other teams: “Martha CHOKEley,” “Cock Brown,” and “I didn’t want universal health care anyway.”
Seriously though, along with the Massachusetts I thought I knew I was pretty bummed yesterday when I watched the previously unthinkable outcome of our special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s senate seat. Yes, I know it’s not “Ted Kennedy’s seat, it’s the people’s seat.” None the less, the people elected Ted Kennedy–the liberal lion of the senate–to sit in that seat for a long time. I was never a huge Coakley fan (I voted for Capuano… though I wasn’t obsessed with him either), but I am a huge Obama fan and I was pretty sure that a republican win in Massachusetts would pretty much spell disaster for his agenda. So, I proudly voted for Coakley–who’s campaign I never really got excited about–as a way of supporting Obama. Plus, she could have been the first female senator from Massachusetts, which would have been exciting as well. Obviously, things did not go down that way, but while I was initially devastated I am starting to see things differently.
After a night of taking a step back and thinking about what really happened I’ve come to two simple conclusions. First, contrary to my initial reaction, it is unclear what this will do to the Health Care bill. There seems to be a possibility that a “stripped down” “bipartisan” bill could still pass. While such a bill would not represent “sweeping” health care reform, it would still count as a first step, which is more than the last bunch of presidents were able to accomplish. Second, while many see this outcome as a political disaster for President Obama (my first reaction as well), I think it may actually present him with some big political opportunities. As he has already acknowledged in his interview on ABC today (which I thought was a great first step), “The people of Massachusetts spoke… the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office.” Instead teaming up with the democrats who want to rush a health care vote before Brown is sworn in, Obama is doing what great leaders do: taking a step back, acknowledging what the people had to say, re-evaluating the situation and looking for a way to move forward. This election result, which seems to be a referendum on health care, the democrats, and Obama, could represent an opportunity for a change in Obama’s agenda. Now that the super majority is gone, Obama may have to really “reach across the isle” and become a more compromising president, which won’t help him with the left wing of the democratic party, but could help him with independents and maybe some republicans. In other words, if the democrats had him on some sort of “leash,” that leash is no longer there because “the people have spoken,” and the democrats can no longer claim a public “mandate” to pass whatever they want. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll be forced to be a little more creative in their bill writing and a little more bipartisan in their approach to the issues we face. That’s not necessarily bad, right? Of course, I’m being somewhat naive, but Obama already seems to be heading in that direction.
As always, David Brooks wrote a great analysis of the situation at NYTimes.com today.
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