The Mess in Massachusetts
Some Advice for the President
2010-01-25
By Brian Gilmore

I am not in the political camp who believes the hype about Scott Brown’s surprise victory in Massachusetts. As in all political campaigns, the best campaign won. The most organized, energetic campaign carried the day and it had little to do with some national referendum on liberalism or big government. If the economy collapsed again next week and unemployment shot up to 15 percent, everyone would be outside the White House insisting that the government give out relief, expand job training programs, print more money, and give them health coverage while they waited for the next job to come through. 

Truth is about the Massachusetts election, the Democrats put out a bad product: Martha Coakley. No one had heard of poor Martha outside the state, and no one got excited about her. Scott Brown must have been salivating when the campaign began. 

What the Democrats should have done is kidnap one of the Kennedy boys (Robert F’s sons) and forced them run for their Uncle Teddy’s seat. Tell one of them just hold the seat until we find a real long-term replacement. Scott Brown would have gotten trounced easily by a Kennedy and all this scatter-brained talk from conservatives about a referendum on big government would have been vanquished.

The winner, Scott Brown doesn’t believe the hype either if you don’t believe me. He was more concerned about the costs of the new federal law to his state than anything else because his state has universal health coverage already.  He voted for it as a State Senator. His implication is: states should implement their own plans and let the federal government fill in the holes.

But, the spin continues, and the Democrats, politically weak, and drunk with power, grabbed their exit tickets quick so they could get off the ship.  The Blue Dogs and the centrist Democrats in the Senate could not wait to throw President Obama in the Potomac River. The liberals, who want to keep fighting, dug in their heels and somewhere the GOP is clinking glasses and laughing at a party who was on the 1 yard line with the great Jim Brown in the backfield ready to bolt them into history but they decided to throw a screen pass, and it was intercepted.

In the middle of this political horror story is Barack Obama who is the rookie QB who threw the pass that lost the game. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and all the other Democrats, who he entrusted with his political future, played him because they called the play that didn’t work. It is high time for him to take control of his own political death, and die the way he wants to die, rather than live like a political coward. Here is some advice for the President from someone who is outside looking in and thinking, man, what the hell are you doing?:

1. Cool it with the cool. The cool demeanor you exhibit is old, like day old grits. You are not Walt “Clyde” Frazier. And even Clyde got mad many times. It is time to be a little like Bush. Yes, George W. Bush. Be stern. Call people out. Tell the world what you want and seek it out. If you want a public option for health care, tell the Democrats: it is a public option or death. You will veto anything less than a public option. People want the President to lead, so lead. Pragmatism? Let it wait.

2. Get out of the White House. It is a bunker.  A castle. Nothing is happening beyond the castle walls; except you are being hung in effigy figuratively and symbolically (it happened, you know). You are a community organizer. Your biggest strength is you relate to people. Start taking trips out into the country and talking to people again. Ask people what they want. Introduce a job creation bill and sell it to the people. Go to towns where people are out of work and talk about the bill. You have to control the political conversation.

3. Get a Negro dialect. Huh? What is wrong with the Negro anyway? He conquered slavery and Jim Crow. Harry Reid says you didn’t have one but now it is time to get one. Call Harry and let him hear it. You know why? The Negro dialect is an American dialect. Read Mark Twain. Listen to Elvis. This is the language of the people.  Right now, you come across as the best friend of the elites and bankers even when you condemn what they do. Time to sound like a regular guy. Speak in the language of the grocery clerk, the UPS driver, the busboy, the mechanic.  Some people voted for you because you didn’t have one but that doesn’t mean it is always wrong to speak like regular people.

4. Finally, fire a few people. Let me not name names but a few heads need to roll. The perception is, this is Bill Clinton’s crew. Or, these are Harvard elites.  Re-shuffled bureaucrats who don’t know anything and don’t know the common man. Aren’t these the guys that gave us the “Contract with America?” They might be smart but they are not “the people.” You cannot convince people you are tough on bankers and the moneychangers when the people who work for you break bread with them all the time.  Like FDR, the country must begin to believe you are the enemy of oligarchs.  The more this class of folks hate you, the stronger you will get with your core voters, and these are the voters who are angry, as well.  Bankers are being bailed out but middle class people are losing their homes. Something wrong with that picture. Make people understand that you think so too, and are doing something about it.