The Revenge of Big Blue

The night of the special election which witnessed a Republican upstart take the Senate seat vacated by the liberal icon and "Lion of the Senate", Ted Kennedy, felt much like the night the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years. The euphoric feeling that a curse had been dispelled coursed through the so called "bluest of blue" states (an insufferable cliche). A house fell on the Wicked Witch of the West, and the ruby slippers have passed on to another. A sense of relief and liberation has taken over fifty plus seven percent of the population of the Commonwealth.

How to explain this Indigo Revolution? One of my Facebook friends summed it up best: "For the first time in my life, I feel as though my vote counted for something."

Most Massachusetts residents most of their voting lives have gone to the polls knowing the result was already a foregone conclusion. No matter whom they voted for in presidential elections, the state's electoral votes would go to McGovern, Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, Kerry or Obama. In local elections, there are never serious Republican or Independent challengers to the rubber stamps offered by the Democratic "machine". We might vote for the Republican candidate if there is one or pencil in "Mickey Mouse" as a protest vote, but, no matter what, our vote was cast into a melting pot of solid Democratic goose-stepping party loyalists.

With this election, things changed. At first, few paid attention to the special election or planned to vote. But the public began to take notice of Scott Brown. Though he started off as a 30 point underdog, his political ads and performance in the debate made us stand up and take notice. When he rebuffed the debate moderator, uber talking head, David Gergen, with the words, "It's the people's seat!", an anthem was born which rallied the Commonwealth's residents. The people believed that the government could once again echo their voice. They did not have to accept the anointees of unknown backroom power brokers. For once, our vote was going to matter.

Hear this now. This election was not a referendum on health care. It was no expression of buyer's remorse on Obama's agenda. If that is how it comes to be understood by the rest of the nation, then so be it. But it was nothing more than the people feeling empowered to make a choice that was not in lockstep with the Commonwealth's official political party.

We threw dirt on the Kennedy legacy. May it rest in peace. Long live a new era of accountability in the Massachusetts body politic.