Senator-Elect Scott Brown (R) Mass.
Scott Brown looks like and carries himself like this blogger's good friend and Cal-Berkeley buddy Greg Haywood (who's a Democrat), who also has the great knack for endearing himself to people, sometimes saying ridiculous things, and yet coming away smelling like a rose. CNN's David Gergen is wrong (as usual) because President Barack Obama does not need to "back off" of anything, including health care.
(As a momentary aside, CNN's David Gergen's great at painting a broad-brush concept, yet not filling in the blanks. For example, he says that President Obama must now "Govern from the center". What does that mean? What's the center? How does that square with our economy's structural problems? Gergen doesn't say. But the people on CNN who listen to him come away thinking he's said something smart, whereas this blogger comes away thinking he doesn't really understand the nature of what he's saying.)
Scott Brown said "The independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken." Note, he said nothing at all about the "Republican voice". Why? Because there's is none.
In his acceptance speech, Senator-elect Brown never once referred to the Republican agenda, nor did he use the term "conservative" and that's not by accident.
Scott Brown's cocky, self-assured delivery is what's attractive about him and it has nothing to do with the GOP, and it has more to do with the generation he's part of: The Obama Generation.
It is for that reason President Obama can be more aggressive and yes, run Health Care Reform through Congress, full steam ahead. Scott Brown is Obama's cattle-prod. His reminder that he serves at the will of the people and not the Democratic Party.
What Obama can use is essentially what will be Scott Brown's downfall: his cocky nature. It's going to rub a lot of people the wrong way and Brown will find himself alone out there if he keeps it up. But it's that same nature that is a trademark of Obama's rise, so Obama's certainly interested in getting to know someone who is of like minds.
The best move is to give Senator-elect Scott Brown his chance. After all, he won. Moreover, what will happen is this: Senator Scott Brown will save President Barack Obama. Senator Brown will allow President Obama to be more populist, not centrist. There's a school of thought that perhaps President Obama was trapped by his own party - by Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. Obama and Brown are cut from the same generational cloth and that will serve to bind them in a way few predicted.
The key here is basketball. Where problems were once solved in a smoke filled room, now they're settled on the basketball court. That "two-on-two" Senator Brown talked about playing with President Obama - that laughable line - is a foreshadowing of things to come.
The GOP has every reason to fear a new alliance between Obama and Brown, just as the old-line Democrats should be concerned as well. The real change is generational, not political.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment