I did not vote for Scott Brown. I proudly voted for Martha Coakley. And not because I'm some super-democrat, far from it. I've never voted for anything or anyone based purely on their political "laundry" and never will. I voted for Coakley because a.) I think she would have been a far stronger candidate and b.) she would have been the 61st vote needed to get Obama's Health Care Reform passed. Instead, not only will Health Care not make it through the senate, Ted Kennedy's seat is now being filled by someone who won this election because he drives a truck. There is a lot to be sick about this morning if you are not a Brown supporter. Here are a few things that are bugging me:
1.) THE OBAMA EFFECT
When the 2008 Presidential Election was going on I lived in Boulder, Colorado. For those unfamiliar, Boulder is a college town full of young, wide-eyed, liberal people that generally vote (D). What was not at all surprising during Obama's campaign is that he was able to capture the imagination of young people in Boulder (and across the country) not so much with his policies, plans, or politics, but rather with his image. Young people thought it was cool to support Obama. This young(ish) black man that listens to Lil Wayne and may go down in history as one of the greatest orators in American politics. "Hope" signs were everywhere, "Change" signs as well, chants of "Yes We Can" would break out randomly on CU campus and even be included in choruses to hip hop songs by Nas and Busta Rhymes. Young people stared at Obama with a glassy look in their eyes, and who could blame them? He was running against the most crotchety old white guy the GOP could have possibly marched out and he whooped his ass pretty hard thanks in part to the historic voter turnout of the 18-35 demographics.
Now, was this an overall "good" thing? I don't know. On the surface I'd have to say no, I don't think it was. It's good for people young and old to get out and vote and take part in the process, but what percentage of young people voted for Obama because he's "cool"? Probably more than you'd expect, and I'd imagine the percentage goes up a lot when contrasted with young voters who sat down, took the time to see what Obama was planning on doing as president and voting for him based on the substance as opposed to the image.
This is partially understandable because let's face it, people between the ages of 18-25 are pretty much obsessed with image, especially in a place like Boulder. It's part of being a young adult. Rampant insecurity combined with a never-ending battle to appear cooler than the next person drives this particular age bracket and that's nothing new. Young people were fed up with W. and Cheney and the Republican agenda and when a cool candidate came along to challenge it they showed up and elected the cool guy.
Well, in Massachusetts the same thing happened, only it was republicans, and it wasn't just young republicans either, it was middle-aged wealthy white guys all throughout Massachusetts staring at Scott Brown with that same glassy-eyed gaze that 18 year old Boulderites ogled Obama with. It was, to say the least, disturbing. They actually chanted "Yes We Can" at Brown's victory rally. Think about that for a second.
And that wouldn't even bother me so much if Brown had more to offer to Massachusetts and the US Senate aside from being the 1 vote to block Health Care. He doesn't. He was a Wrentham District Selectman and the odds of his term going beyond 2012 are highly unlikely despite his present rock star status. People voted for him because he seemed like a "regular guy" and "he'd be fun to have a beer with" which is shockingly retarded. Since when is that the standard that we hold our elected officials to? Massachusetts republicans all came scurrying out of whatever dark cave they've been hiding in for the past 30 years and declared that they were finally proud to vote in Massachusetts. These are adults I'm talking about right now. Men and women with families, with jobs, with real lives that they have to worry about, and they're creaming their pants over the ability to vote for a "regular guy" after all this time. Again, this wouldn't bother me so much if Brown's campaign focused AT ALL on his stance on certain issues. The ONLY issue we were presented with from his side was that he was planning on voting against Health Care, and that was enough for a lot of people, but a lot of people didn't even give a shit about that. They voted for him because he was cool, and because his opponent, Martha Coakley, was not, which brings me to the second aspect of this election that really blazes my britches.
2. THE RISE AND FALL OF MARTHA COAKLEY
In the coming weeks and months (hell, maybe years) Martha Coakley is going to get absolutely annihilated by everyone. The left, the right, the center, you name it. She is truly a woman without a country this morning, and that's absolute fucking bullshit.
Martha Coakley was the first female District Attorney of Massachusetts as well as its first female Attorney General. She did phenomenal work in both offices. She should be remembered as one of the most determined and prolific prosecutors this state has ever had, but she won't be. She'll be remembered as the woman who blew the election for Ted Kennedy's seat. She won the primaries handily, defeating Steve Pagliuca, Mike Capuano and Alan Khazei. Scott Brown beat a guy named Jack E. Robinson who runs for office just to get his name on TV and generally doesn't crack double digits when it comes to percentage points. Coakley's campaign during the primary was impressive. She came across as a strong and determined women with a sterling record as a MA prosecutor, an official who was not afraid to take on any issue or any person. Her record as DA and AG was not perfect, by any means, but show me one DA or AG with a perfect record and I'll show you a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale.
What happened after the primaries was her fault, there's no getting around it. Coakley rested on her laurels. She wasn't going to lose to some no-name district selectman from Wrentham and everybody knew it. She disappeared for a while. During that time, Brown hit the streets. He was everywhere, driving around that signature truck and shaking hands with everyone who would come out to see him. He was outside shaking hands at Fenway during the Winter Classic, a move that was scoffed at by Coakley. He was litereally EVERYWHERE, you couldn't miss him, and suddenly the tortoise started inching up behind the hare.
What happened next was strange, as both candidates began campaigning against each other with negative ads, yet Coakley was singled out as the only one doing so while Brown was praised as "taking the high road". The naiveté of that is just mind-boggling. Both candidates put out negative ads, they're on youtube, you can see them for yourselves, yet Coakley was the only one mentioned as doing so. Brown's mythical status grew while Coakley's mold of a cold, steely, unapproachable lawyer-lady hardened despite it's inaccuracies. In the debate, Brown made a lot of odd comments that Coakley did not attack/defend. For example he accused Coakley of being soft on terrorism because she was in favor of trying suspected terrorists through due process of American law as opposed to Brown's proposal that they be tried in military tribunals where they would not be given an opportunity to "lawyer up".
Coakley did not defend her stance very well, as she hemmed and hawed her way out of it instead of looking across the stage and reminding Brown that a.) he's a lawyer too b.) the republican party had 8 fucking years to try these guys in military tribunals but they were too busy water boarding them at Guantanamo Bay and c.) Richard Reid (the shoe bomber) and Zacharias Moussaoui (9/11 conspirator) were both tried with regular American due process of the law and both of those guys are rotting in prison cells serving 9 consecutive life sentences between the two of them (3 for Reid, 6 for Moussaoui).
But she didn't say any of that, she never went for the kill. So Brown the tortoise plodded along and by the time Coakley woke up from her nap it was too late, he'd crossed the finish line.
He energized his base, he ran a very strong campaign, and he didn't make any mistakes. He was, in my opinion, a far inferior candidate but Coakley never made it clear enough to the public that she was the better person for the job. Her campaign was atrocious, while his was nearly flawless. I'm bummed out that the better campaigner won this election as opposed to the better candidate and that Health Care will now not get passed but overall, the Dems still hold an 18 seat majority in the Senate and Obama should still be able to get his act together if he's worth his weight in salt as a politician. Time will tell.
In the meantime, this is a very disappointing day for Massachusetts. A day where image won over substance and thousands of middle aged rich white guys got to feel like 18 year old Boulderite stoners for a couple months by voting for their guy. They were mad as hell at the past, oh, I dunno, year and a half and they're not gonna take it anymore!!! The old way isn't working, and our new guy is gonna come in and say nay to the health care bill! And he drives a truck!!! And ....and....well .....
Did I mention he drives a truck?
