Thanks a lot, state where I’m from! (tl; dr regarding politics in Massachusetts. FEEL FREE TO SKIP + NO MORE POLITICKIN’ EVER.)
As far as I can see it, there are PLENTY of things to learn from Martha Coakley’s defeat. Most obviously: don’t run a shitty campaign, Democratic candidate. Do the work, kiss the babies, don’t diss the Red Sox and that INSUFFERABLE Curt Schilling (wealthy Republican) in Massachusetts. Most important? When the Democrats are corrupted (Governor is bad, the speakers of the House have resigned due to shenanigans) and running one state and doing a mediocre job in a recession, they’re not likely to win an election. Not without baby kissing!
Hopefully the national democratic machine can get up and running as a result. But I don’t think it’s necessarily the national “referendum” on Obama and Health Care and things that the national media is making it out to be. To whit:
A) There is definitely a problem with women running for positions in Massachusetts. They are usually - and part of this is probably a result of Kennedy having a Senate seat sealed down until death - straight-A student types who came up through the AG’s office, through the local government representation, whatever. When they’re thrust into the spotlight against a male candidate, they come off as Tracy Flick - entitled, expecting to win handily - against their male opponents. It’s how Mitt Romney - carpetbagger Mitt who guts coporations! who has many houses! - came off as a guy you wanted to have a beer with and won the governorship, as opposed to Democrat-in-MA-entrenched candidate Shannon O'Brien. He was handsome; she was a political lady, comparably part of the machine. He was overall, more appealing. Half the reason MA’s current Governor, Deval Patrick won, was due to the fact that he was up against Rommney’s Lt. Gov, Kerry Healy, and not a dude.
*Jane Swift was Governor for a minute because she was the Lt. Gov. and the then-Governor became an ambassador to Canada.
B) Why do female political candidates come off as Tracy Flick in the media? And why does it end up making Republican millionaires - who don’t push policy that actually affects humans positively - look like total bros, dudes who could’ve been in your frat?
(And the inverse of this: Sarah Palin’s bimbo-verse. Another topic, however.)
C) Massachusetts currently has a Democratic Governor and a Democratic house/senate, state-wide. The speaker of the House, Salvatore F. DiMasi, resigned in July for corruption charges. Deval Patrick - who was sent into the house on a tidal wave of TOGETHER WE CAN (as coined by David Axelrod, Obama’s consigliere) - has very low approval ratings. Part of this dissatisfaction, to be honest, is that there’s a recession and people are feeilng it. So they will vote out who’s in power. But short memories - this is all a consequence of eight years of terrible federal government.
D) Massachusetts people, super excited that their VOTE ACTUALLY MATTERS NATIONALLY (it never does) actually decided to leave the house and vote.
D1) There’s a youth-drain in Massachusetts and the red band around the greater Boston area is full of older people from the suburbs where I’m from. You know what? Those are people who are at middling colleges who get basic jobs (blue collar or not - but jobs that are secure) that enable them to buy houses, etc. They are mad because they don’t see the government affecting them for the better - and they’re likely to vote. My relatives who are republican wouldn’t shut up on Facebook about this election even though it’s not likely Brown will affect their lives for the better. They don’t want to pay high taxes, health care is already “raising taxes” in MA, they’re not thinking about the fact that their kids will likely not get jobs that offer health care and will be stuck in some permalancing hell, because Health Care being YOKED to jobs when there aren’t very many and the OLDS aren’t dying is a PROBLEM. Republican philosophy - “stay out of my taxes” - is appealing but it doesn’t belie the truth, that these guys cut taxes for rich Corps. It’s not helpful to the middle class, guys!
Like Devo said, DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE. That’s a two-fold problem: Massachusetts can’t keep their best and brightest because it’s too expensive and those who are staying are voting for feelings, social ideals, and not facts.*
*And - and! - Dems in MA need to not be lame.
D2) How much campaigning did Coakley do at colleges? Seriously? Because there’s a quarter of a million college students in Massachusetts. Get those kids registered and interested and you’re all set. They do live in MA 9 months a year.
E) The VERY VERY IMPORTANT election in MA that David Axelrod better keep an eye on will be Deval Patrick’s re-election (which is very unlikely). He’s widely seen as a bad governor. He’s been pilloried for getting new blinds the minute he got in office. Recent coverage includes the story that he complained about having to run for reelection to Obama and Obama said, tough shit dude.
Axelrod got Patrick elected with the nebulous slogan “Together we can.” Nobody really knew what they meant but it was great to get hopeful from. Together we can have a better Massachusetts! Sure! But Patrick isn’t controlling that conversation, making the media report on Together, We Did All Sorts of Things. It’s more like Patrick screws up having a casino! Patrick ignores MA because he had to go to New York to get a book deal! Importantly: he really isn’t a great Governor, BUT - I get the idea that if you get in on an Axelrod theme of “change” “hope” and “togetherness” and people can’t point at concrete examples of why their life is better, your political career is screwed.
F) To whit: I feel like with Fox News Channel existing, Democrats simply don’t control the conversation. Obama’s office needs to trumpet some of the change that has happened so far. I do not, AT ALL, understand how Democrats and the Left let the Republicans sell bullshit “family values” type social ideals while passing policy that doesn’t help the people who vote for ‘em. Friday Night Lights the book has a good example: Odessa, TX votes Republican, the Bushes cut jobs in that town. Ew.
G) Lastly: yes there’s a recession, people are unhappy. O is cleaning that up, hopefully? That doesn’t mean we should put the people who put our country desperately in debt, devaluing the dollar around the world back in power. O needs to remind the country of their short, short memories. I don’t doubt that any president post-Bush would end up coming off badly because the country is very much a mess and the media just feeds into the divides.
Sorry this is long. I never plan on posting about politics again. It’s just frustrating and important. It doesn’t make any sense to me why Health Care is in the hands of people/corporations making profits off Americans being ill. It’s really gross. If the Democrats don’t pass something - don’t get galvanized - it’s going to really be awful, the results. I really feel like we need a Peter Finch in Network for the left. I’m feeling particularly emotional about it because health care is a must for me now; I have a syndrome that ups my chances of cancer and that means I should be tested every year for a variety of things - preventative care, you know? So that I don’t leech off the system in the future?
And I do wish that I had a job coining verbiage - winner talk - for the left. You can sell people “Change you can believe in” but you need to convince people that “Change is happening, on and and on and on.” YOU’RE NOT DOING THAT AXELROD.