[Peace-discuss] A good job in Massachusetts

[C. G. Estabrook]

[I lived in Massachusetts for a quarter-century, from the time a young 
ne'er-do-well son of a bootlegger was elected senator on the cynical slogan, "He 
can do more for Massachusetts" (his brother being president).  In that time I 
lived in different sections of the city, my kids went a variety of schools there 
(also during the "busing criss" of the 1970s), and I participated to some extent 
in the city's political and cultural life.  So I want to say that Cockburn is 
bit over the top when he refers to "a disgusting sinkhole of racism and vulgar 
prejudice," but I have to admit that it's at least allowable hyperbole, in the 
midst of the best account of the significance of this election to the country 
and the state that I've seen. --CGE]

"Everyone knows that Obama is the champion of bankers, not bankrupts. The 
liberals morosely list twelve months of disasters, from a wider war in 
Afghanistan, to major betrayals of pledges to restore constitutional restraints..."

	January 20, 2010
	Coakley Loses and a Good Job Too
	A Richly Deserved Humiliation
	By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Republican Scott Brown takes over a seat held by the Kennedy family for over 
half a century and the dark cloud already hovering over Obama's White House 
thickens. By any measure the energetic Brown's emphatic defeat of Martha 
Coakley, believed only a month ago to be a sure thing as Ted Kennedy's 
replacement, is a disaster for the Democratic Party and for President Obama.

Coakley, a former prosecutor and attorney general of Massachusetts, ran a dumb, 
complacent campaign, allowing Brown, a state senator, to charge that she seemed 
to believe she had an inherent right to the seat. Coakley ladled out platitudes; 
Brown, pelting about the Commonwealth in a manly GMC truck, made the Democrats' 
health reform bill his prime issue, which was scarcely rocket science, since 
people of moderate income accurately believe that "reform" is going to cost them 
money, with zero improvement in overall service.

A year after his inauguration Obama has disappointed so many constituencies that 
a rebuke by the voters was inevitable. Yesterday it came in Massachusetts, often 
categorized as the most liberal in the union. This is entirely untrue. It's a 
disgusting sinkhole of racism and vulgar prejudice, as five minutes in any taxi 
in the state, listening to Talk Radio or reading the local newspaper, will attest.

Brown's achievement is not novel. His type of Republican has been elected 
governor in Massachusetts three or four times in the last 18 years by the real 
"majority party" --which is the "unenrolled" independents who are 1 and 1/2 
times the size of Democrats in number among registered voters and tower over the 
Republicans of whom less than 12 per cent are registered as such.

CounterPuncher Steve Early, a labor organizer in the state wrote to us on Monday 
that Brown is in the mould of two recent Republican governors of Massachusetts, 
William Weld , and Paul Celluci, the latter two actually being backed by later 
Change to Win local affiliates like HERE Local 26 and the Teamsters. These were 
genial, likeable, clean-cut jocks, presenting themselves to independent voters 
as a much needed public rebuke to "an increasingly corrupt, arrogant or 
personally screwed up Beacon Hill clique of Democrats (see recent spate of House 
and Senate member/leader indictments, jailings, and/or resignations pending 
trial). A lot of folks, at the moment, are again just plain pissed about the 
self-serving political class of Democratic Donkeys who run our one-party state, 
including the now unpopular Obama pre-cursor, Deval Patrick."

Because the Democratic majority in the US senate is now reduced to 59, the 
common prediction is that the Democrats' health reform bill is doomed, since it 
takes 60 votes to override a filibuster, which the Republicans would mount to 
kill the bill. More likely is that the insurance companie , (which dictated the 
basic terms of the "reform" and stands to gain millions of new customers who 
will be forced by law to take out health insurance), will be loath to throw away 
months of successful lobbying and will dictate some new "compromise" that will 
allow both Republicans and Democrats to claim victory. Obama will delightedly 
sign any insurance bill landing on his desk bearing the necessary label, "reform".

Certainly Coakley's resounding defeat is grim news for Democratic politicians 
limbering up for the midterm elections this coming fall. The parallel is with 
the midterms of 1994, when voters, furious at the bumbling failures of Clinton's 
first to years, handed both the senate and the house to Republicans for the 
first time in decades. Obama has caused fury and disillusion across the 
spectrum. The nutball right bizarrely portrays him as a mutant offspring of the 
Prophet Mohammed and Karl Marx, demonstrating that cretinism flows more strongly 
than ever in Uncle Sam's bloodstream. The Republican small business crowd 
tremble at the huge deficits. The independents see no trace of the invigorating 
change pledged by Obama. Working people in the labor unions who supplied the 
footsoldiers for Obama's campaign see no improvement in their economic 
condition. Everyone knows that Obama is the champion of bankers, not bankrupts. 
The liberals morosely list twelve months of disasters, from a wider war in 
Afghanistan, to major betrayals of pledges to restore constitutional restrains 
after eight years of abuse by Bush and Cheney.

Obama richly deserves the rebuke from Massachusetts. Armed with a nation's 
fervent hopes a year ago, he spurned the unrivalled opportunity offered by 
economic crisis to do what he pledged: usher in substantive change. He's done 
exactly the opposite . Wall Street has been given the green light to continue 
with business as usual. The stimulus package was far too weak. The opportunity 
for financial reform has passed. Trillions will be wasted in Afghanistan.

A final note on Coakley. She rose to political prominence by peculiarly vicious 
grandstanding as a prosecutor, winning a conviction of 19-year old child minder 
Louise Woodward for shaking a baby to death. An outraged judge later freed 
Woodward, reducing her sentence to less than a year of time served. Then Coakley 
went after headlines in child abuse cases. Innocent people are still rotting in 
prison as a consequence of Coakley's misuse of her office. For this alone, 
regardless of the setback the Democrats richly deserved, I rejoice in her 
humiliation.



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