I have to say what I want to say about the election, because I have to.
I am always amazed when people don't understand which way I am going to vote - then I realize that nobody really ever knows which way I am going to vote, so clearly it is in the way I deliver my message more than what message I'm delivering. Not that I'm even delivering a message. I'm just a semi-professional rambler.
First, the facts. I am a Democrat. I was registered Independent for a while after Hillary and Barack decided to act like children during the Primary process. So, in turn, I turned into a child as well and made things worse for myself. I then changed back to a Democrat because I realized that in the future, I want to be able to vote in the primaries.
Yesterday, I voted for Martha Coakley. Coakley is a run of the mill average Democrat, and in my life and my eyes, I'd rather see that than a run of the mill average Republican. This election really came down to, for me, the fact that things have become so bitterly partisan, because of the 60/40 math, that a 59-41 would put this country at a standstill.
I play Fantasy football and I make a lot of moves. Sometimes the moves aren't that good. Another example is that when I used to play Risk, all I wanted to do was bash people and start wars. I didn't care about the long term strategy. Most of me, from playing games to real life politics, feels that being sedentary, not changing, not evolving, is dangerous.
When it comes to politics, I see Democrats as the group that wants to change things quicker, and Republicans as the group that wants to change things slowly. Take a social issue that has arisen in the past 50 years, and Democrats wanted that social action to happen more quickly than the Republicans did. Take my fantasy football and Risk persona, and thats how I am when it comes to politics.
I have no idea what is going to happen in the future, but I can pretty much guarantee that Gays will be able to be openly Gay in the military. And I can pretty much guarantee you that at some point if you are born on American soil, you will be insured as a birthright. And I also can predict, with a certain amount of certainty, that there will or will not be another terrorist attack independent of who the Senator of Massachusetts is.
I wanted change to happen, and I want it to happen fast, and I think the state of Massachusetts disagrees with my opinion and that is life.
I really am curious as to what this state really wants. I am really confused, actually. How can Ted Kennedy, as far left as the spectrum allows, goes unchallenged, then Scott Brown comes in & v. Coakley, in an election with great turnout, loses. My question is, did people who had been voting for Kennedy all of these years actually vote for Scott Brown - a guy who is pretty much anti any kind of change, anti any kind of progress? That isn't partisan, that's his politics, his beliefs, not mine.
The answer to my own question is that I think that Kennedy voters stayed home, and that the Republicans were motivated to vote, and went out in big numbers. Why did they go out and vote?
1. Obama's Health Care bill has been a disaster since Day 1. It was clear by the way he tried to shove the bill through in July with really no national discourse, or debate. That scared people.
2. Coakley's campaign just felt arrogant even before the media was telling everyone that it was, in fact, arrogant. Her whole platform was, "can you believe this Brown guy? He is in Massachusetts, and he doesn't even believe in Kennedy's values!!! What a JOKE!" That didn't work.
I know for a fact I feel very alienated. I feel like I cannot talk to anyone about this. It's like what happened with the Red Sox - when I used to care, I felt like I couldn't talk to anyone because their opinions were not based on anything they thought of themselves. They really got their opinion from Pete Shepherd (ha! FIRED!) from WEEI, and that killed me.
Now, I don't know what people are thinking. They are approaching politics like it is a game, like it is a point of pride to be right in their vote, as opposed to right in their morals. I am not talking about the result of the election, so Brown won, I'm not going to yell at anyone for it. What I cannot stand are those rubbing it in people's faces, and I cannot stand people screaming about Brown like he is going to single-handedly chop massachusetts off from the mainland and toss it in the Atlantic Ocean.
So now there is an obligation from both parties, and as constituents and residents, it is our obligation to actually objectively judge this particular Senator on his actions. I don't know if we are capable of that, but it is what we are supposed to do. The thing that the Democrats need to do is to actually bring up a candidate that can win (which Coakley could have) and one that will take the campaign process seriously (which she didn't). Entertaining the idea that you might lose 72 hours before the election, is poor preparation. That isn't news, but it is to the Democrat Party for some reason.
The last thing I want to say is partisan, and is a condemnation of the right, and it isn't that bad, so I am sure anyone can stomach it and I can understand a different opinion, but since the days of Reagan, and maybe before, Republicans are basing their feelings on distrust. Distrust of Gov't. Distrust of opposition. Distrust of people who don't look, talk, sound, feel the way they do. I don't know what Democrats base anything on, because we have lost our way, but Republicans are pretty firm in the fact that Gov't cannot be trusted, and they cannot be the ones who steer us through problems.
I just want to finish by saying that kind of negativity permeates the entire message and the entire system. I always laugh at the premise that Gov't cannot be distrusted, because then what the EFF are you looking for in a candidate? I agree with you, this time, Scott Brown isn't going to change America. He isn't going to steer us in the right direction, and I have no idea if Coakley would either, but if you ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you're not going to get Filet Mignon.
Jed Bartlet in '12.
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