This tuesday we Americans watched as Washington Political Logic came crashing down on the Democratic party as a Republican won the special election for Mass. Senate (previously held by the "Liberal Lion" Ted Kennedy) and has sent shockwaves throughout the political landscape...
Many in the media and most certainly the Republicans are claiming a big victory and claiming this is a sign of what will come to pass this November....Too bad it isn't
As POLITICO pointed out in a article the other day, the Republicans still have alot to worry about before this Novemeber...Polls from many organizations found that Mass. voters didn't move to the right, they moved against Washington..these polls found that Healthcare was a huge factor in the results of the election...and while Mass. has a state-wide universial healthcare system that includes an individual mandate, voters believe that their system isn't for the entire Nation and the current efforts by Pres. Obama and Senate Democrats aren't going to make the situation better..
Case in point, according to Rasmussen Polls from Election Nite tuesday, 56% of Mass. voters thought Healthcare was the most important issue, and the Democratic candidate Coakley got a slim majority of these voters..
The Next important issue for Mass. voters was the economy at 25% for which the Republican Brown picked up a slim majority of...
So what is the lesson to take from Tuesday's election? There are several lessons but possibly the most telling is that while Americans do see Healthcare as a major issue, it is such a divisive issue that it muddies the political waters and therefore a not-so-reliable rallying cry for the Democratic Party...Another lessons was for the Republicans, in which they took advantage of the divisivenesss of the healthcare debate and use it against the Democrats and they will likely mold as many of November's races after their victory in Mass.
But the big lesson to learn from the Night is for the Democrats...that if they don't show some confidence and leadership they will fail badly this November...
But enough of Tuesday's election...I believe this election is a sign of a greater sentiment held by millions of Americans...that the Democrats need to abandon the healthcare reform effort or it will slowly but surely drag them into defeat...a Rasmussen polls proves just that...According to Rasmussen 61% of Americans believe Congress should end the healthcare reform effort and move on to more pressing things like the economy and the deficit..59% say that considering the current economic situation Obama should wait to reform the system til after the economy improves...which is something I've been saying for several months now but nobody listens to Common Sense these days..If Democrats had spent all this time on trying to improve the economy instead of this worthless healthcare debate the economy would likely be improving by now and would boast their chances of winning this November and then Obama could have used his political capital to reform our disfunctional Healthcare system..and now what do they have for all their effort? Unemployment hit 10%...the Reform effort has hijacked by special interests till there wasn't much reform left in the bills...and now Democrats look as if they are ignoring the wishes of the American people and therefore arrogant...and there's few things that anger Americans more than arrogance..
So what if anything can the Democrats do the save their butts this November? Firstly, their doom isn't exactly certain because while people are angry with Dems, they don't think much more of Republicans and the Tea Party Movement could be a stumbling block for the Republicans and save the Democrats..but ultimately the Democrats have to do one thing to survive for sure this November...ABANDON HEALTHCARE REFORM...and then focus much more on the economy and fiscal reform (as Obama finally seems to be doing)...such efforts will make voters happy and would give the Republicans less to yell and scream about and if they try to derail those efforts they will look like obstructionists and the people will make them pay this November...but the Democrats need to understand that ending the debate now and moving on won't be a deathblow..this election was a wake-up call for them to move on to what Americans care about right now and reform our dysfunctional system when they have more political strength...
Because I trully understand why they tried so hard to push reform now...they had the seats, they had their President, and they believed they had the people's support...but instead they found that the Country isn't sure what to do with the healthcare system and in this time of huge deficits they just saw reform as another government program that will supposedly save money but will eventually become a burden as most government programs do and rejected such an effort and Democrats need to learn that NOW...of forever hold their peace..
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/massachusetts/a_final_look_at_massachusetts_election_night_poll
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/january_2010/61_say_it_s_time_for_congress_to_drop_health_care
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