Earlier in the week, I wrote a post-mortem on the Massachusetts Senate race won by Scott Brown. I saw the results as a signal that Americans are worn out by fraud and corruption. I found one comment from a registered Democrat particularly instructive regarding the mood of the electorate and am publishing the heart of it here.
Thank you for writing a concrete article whereas you get what we were saying to Obama. I quote you:
A majority of Obama voters who switched to Brown said that "Democratic policies were doing more to help Wall Street than Main Street.” A full 95 percent said the economy was important or very important when it came to deciding their vote. Surprise, surprise, policies do matter."
I’m a registered voter in MA, voted Dem my entire life, but voted for Scott Brown, a Republican, for one simple reason: protest. It was a difficult decision, but what persuaded me was when Obama came down to my school on Sunday (I attend Northeastern Univ) and essentially expected us to vote for Coakley like sheep following a herd, whereas I felt that the real progressive concerns regarding the financial meltdown and lack of attention to Main Street have mostly gone ignored. That’s not the change we voted for. Putting a circle around Brown’s name was not in support of him or lack of support against Coakley, but in essence, I needed to send a message to Obama the only way that I could.
A friend of mine suggested that I vote secretly for Coakley, and still write a letter to Obama/Emanuel, but I felt that my anger was so boiled up, that I wanted Brown to win so that I could showcase a political maneuver to Obama, and I’m glad that (so far) they’ve seemed to have heard that message loud and clear. I felt that my letters to Obama (and e-mails) were going ignored, and that Obama was listening more to Rahm Emanuel and the Republicans rather to his base and the people who elected him. This was the only way for me to speak out against his Right-leaning direction in which he was going, especially regarding regulatory reform, healthcare, Big Pharma, putting stronger restrictions against the banks for their irresponsibility and a stronger approach toward implementing policies and strategies that will strengthen the middle class…
One of the things I was confident about if Obama was sympathetic (as he is), and if he looked at the facts and polls, he would go from leaning toward the Republican’s who continue to pressure him, to leaning toward the right thing to do, and that’s with fixing the issues that were caused by the 8-yrs of George Bush. I’m grateful that so far, from what the news sources have been, it seems that Obama has shifted. I think that the MA special election was the third black eye against his approach, with the Republican’s winning in VA and NJ, and now with MA. My vote for Brown was actually a political move to show Obama that we are paying attention to his lack of fortitude, and from what has been said so far, I think he heard my message, along with the other people who either voted for Brown, the Dem’s who still voted but voted for neither candidate or the Dem’s who stayed home.
…my vote was a political protest essentially saying to Obama "don’t ignore your base." I’m going to include your Massachusetts Post-Mortem article when I eventually send this list to my friends who still think I went completely nuts when I announced on my Facebook page that I was voting for Brown…
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
-Teddy Roosevelt
President Obama, are you listening?