Some of the nation’s top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer insight into the biggest question burning up the blogosphere today.
Today’s question:
Scott Brown beat Martha Coakley. What is the message for President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats?
Michelle D. Bernard, president & CEO of the Independent Women’s Forum, said:
Americans Want Change Once Again
The message to Democrats from last night election couldn’t be more clear: the American people are disgusted with Washington politics and reject it’s big government agenda.
One year ago, Massachusetts voted for President Obama by more than 20 percentage points. Yesterday they voted in a Republican by a 5 point margin. This is a political earthquake. The Democratic leadership can no longer claim that just a fringe of Americans oppose their agenda. A majority of Massachusetts voters are political independents. They overwhelmingly voted for Scott Brown and against his Democratic opponent.
Many voters saw this explicitly as a referendum on health care and voted for Scott Brown solely so that he could be the 41st vote against the proposed health care legislation. This means something! Democrats need to recognize that a majority of Americans strongly oppose their proposals and are appalled at the backroom deals and bribery that have been used to advance this legislation.
Democrats have time to recover-at least partially-before the mid-term elections. Recovery starts with recognizing that they have a big problem, actually listening to the message that Americans have sent, and committing to govern from the center.
