January 19, 2010
Barack Obama marks his first anniversary in the White House tomorrow. Ironically, the first major test of his administering the nation’s problem comes today in the election for the late Ted Kennedy’s senate seat.
If the state’s Attorney General Martha Oakley loses for Mr. Obama’s Democrats, January 19, 2010, will be their latest date of infamy. Furthermore, Gov. Devol Patrick shares the party affiliation of the president, and he is also African American.
Massachusetts sends to Washington not a single Republican legislator. It would be impossible to name any state under the present red-blue color designation as more Democratic blue than the place where the Boston tea parties occurred. The state’s liberalism extends to homosexuals; in overwhelmingly Catholic Massachusetts gays can enter into marriage.
Under the circumstances, it might be hard to understand why the president made the effort Sunday to fly to Boston to embrace Candidate Oakley; and why the Kennedys in some number worked obviously in her behalf. The senator’s widow spent the weekend campaigning for Ms. Oakley. Vicky Reggie Kennedy’s statement against the GOP’s state Sen. Scott Brown refutes some of his claims.
Mr. Brown’s campaign seems from here to be predicated on disavowing sympathy for the Kennedy family and its longtime hold on the state’s loyalties. The state senator and his spokesmen state: “It’s the people’s seat.”
Perhaps his rigid conservatism or maybe his rugged handsomeness – he once posed as Playgirl magazine’s centerfold – whatever the reason, Rasmussen Reports’ surveys showed the candidates only two points apart Friday. From the polls, Mr. Brown is overwhelmingly the favorite among independents and they apparently make the difference between the Bay State’s registered Democrats and Republicans. It must be noted, however, in my observation Rasmussen tends toward conservatism and most independents don’t bother to vote.
In the fierce public desire to regain Washington power, the national party has poured people and money in to assist the Republican candidate. I’ve heard of no “names” comparable to the president’s. From one point of view, the conservative stars are unwilling to come out in public, just in case their candidate falls short in today’s voting, which could be an embarrassment for them.
In his whirlwind tour of Massachusetts’ places and events, Barack Obama has apparently stressed how much in danger were his programs, especially health care. If Mr. Kennedy’s decisive vote travels across the Capitol Hill aisle that could be devastating to his memory. Health care reform was his number one priority. Against doctors’ advice, the senator discharged himself from the hospital to support reform, and returned to his tubes and bed only when he felt he had done all he could for the reformation in medical services for everyone.
However the Massachusetts voters decide, today will be taken by the winning side as proof positive that Republicans or Democrats are on the right track for giving Americans what they want in government.
Me? I have some reservations.
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