Prime Example: "We can look no further than Howard Dean, and MSNBC, and Arianna Huffington, and, yes, some columnists at the Times and bloggers here at TPM—you know, real progressives—who have lambasted Obama again and again since last March over arguable need-to-haves like the 'public option,' as if nobody else was listening…Meanwhile the undecideds are thinking: 'Hell, if his own people think he's a sell-out and jerk, why should we support this?
This argument is hardest to judge—how does one measure it? Democrats didn't do enough. Proponents of this theory are a small but noisy group, the same Netroots that the "quit griping" camp attacks, but they say that if Democratic leaders had been more aggressive, the rank and file would have been more energized. Having to do that evokes feelings of genuine shame—shame in front of the other voters we told to vote for Democrats because it supposedly 'mattered,' and shame when we look in the mirror at a self that may have allowed itself to be unnecessarily duped.
Like their detractors, the Netroots are relying on emotion. It certainly seems true that disillusionment drained energy from the left-wing base, but would that have made the difference in the Massachusetts race? Lefties likely held their noses and voted for Coakley, and her campaign shouldn't have needed such a staunch base. It was out of Democrats' hands.
It wasn't about Obama, and it wasn't about health care. It was about the lingering effects of the economic crisis—which, left-leaning commentators hasten to point out, originated during the Bush administration—that have made the climate terrible for incumbents. Coakley, though not an incumbent, got caught up in that wave. The first shore was New Jersey and Virginia," she said, referring to Democratic losses in the governors' races there, "the second was Massachusetts , Other Democrats appeared to interpret the recent votes as representing anti-Washington sentiment.
Jim Webb of Virginia said that the Massachusetts election "became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process. While Democrats huddled to try to figure out a way to get their health care bill passed before Brown is seated and ends their seat filibuster-proof "supermajority" in the Senate, Webb said it would be "prudent" for Congress to suspend further votes on health care reform legislation until Brown is seated.
Weigh in on what's next for health care. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, said Tuesday night that the Massachusetts results demonstrated Democrats have to change their strategy on health care.
And we have to think about what we're doing wrong here. And to have a conversation as if nothing happened, whether you're in Massachusetts or not, is being tone deaf.
Brown warned in his victory speech that Democrats will face the same factors in the midterm elections in November that led to his win in Massachusetts on Tuesday.
When there's trouble in Massachusetts, there's trouble everywhere -- and now they know it. Heading into the race, few political analysts believed Brown, a state senator, had a serious shot at beating Coakley. Brown was underfunded and unknown statewide. But she said she would have approached her campaign differently, in retrospect.
He was effective with television advertising and with media. He was a new face for folks. And he had a message that people wanted to hear," Coakley said. While she acknowledged that health care was a key issue in the campaign, Coakley was unwilling to assume responsibility for the ultimate success or failure of the legislation. Skip to header Skip to main content Skip to footer Opinion.
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