Scott Brown Suburbanites Versus Boston Slumdogs
Everyone has it wrong on Massachusetts. I’ve listened to and read tons of analysis on why Scott Brown won Kennedy’s senate seat and it’s all wrong. Scott Brown was elected by moderate suburbanites. These voters are somewhat better off than the population in general, and are disconnected to a large extent from big city low income decrepitude. These voters don’t want the burden of Boston’s slumdog subsistence. They expect they are paying for it, and they certainly resent having to do so.
These suburban voters were not necessarily big Ted Kennedy fans. Many of them voted for Mitt Romney when he ran against Kennedy in a senate race. They later did vote Romney in as governor and had previously voted in republican Bill Weld as their governor.
Younger suburban voters do not have the historical ties to the Kennedy clan and perceived him as a figure out of the past whose time had come and gone. To them he was simply an old man who was hanging around long past his glory days.
Scott Brown is a Mitt Romney twin. They are both photogenic and engaging personalities with innocuous political views and mainstream values. Suburban voters are comfortable in this zone and Scott Brown is the kind of guy they could enthusiastically support. He is one of them. By voting for Scott Brown they were in a sense voting for themselves. This is their candidate, their man, and their proud of him and excited about finally having someone other than Kennedy representing them.
This block of voters went for Obama once the economy collapsed and it was clear the republicans were responsible. Now that Obama is president, and it has become clear it hasn’t made any difference, they can go back to being themselves.
There is no message being sent. This was not a referendum on Obama or his policies. It is not a rejection of socialism or any other weird theme you want to attach to it. These people would have voted for Scott Brown even if the economy had shown marked improvement and unemployment had dropped sharply. They simply voted for someone who was more like them.
This is not an extension of the Tea Bagger revolution. This is moderates voting moderately. Nothing more to it than that. It‘s not a call for Obama to be more progressive. There is no message in this election at all.
Progressives should be disappointed. The country just isn’t going to take a sharp turn to the left. Gay marriage is being voted down in most states. Subsidized health care is not going anywhere. Better go to Plan B progressives. Plan A (Barrack Obama) isn’t working.
