Focus On The Rainbow

There it was at 9:22 PM (ET), Rachel Maddow was saying the Associated Press had called the Senate election in Massachusetts for Brown as the winner.

The unthinkable and horror to many, mostly outside the Bay State and within the boundaries of DC, had happened, much beloved Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat had gone to, hand out the aspirin and the Pepto, a Republican.

I’ll let other journalists, talking heads and pundits on both sides go through the numbers and dissection of what happened and the multitude of reasons why, I’m just going to focus on one theme. Entitlement.

Long before there was the term political junkie and having covered politics locally here in Danbury, CT, I have often watched elections in different parts of the US, local, state and national of course and often shook my head at what I saw long before the ballots were cast.

The only difference between Chris Matthews and myself is, a) he has a show on MSNBC and b) he speaks more eloquently on politics, whereas I speak like anyone down at the neighborhood diner.

So here’s the blue plate special.

What the Hell was this woman thinking !?!

Going on a Caribbean vacation when the biggest slice of pie in her political career was up for grabs. Not getting out and shaking hands, kissing babies, taking rides on fire trucks and doing everything up to and including helping Santa Claus deliver presents on Christmas Eve.

I was struck by one interview on one of the networks with a longtime Kennedy voter and faithful Democrat who said, to paraphrase, “I can’t stand her. She has not gone out to meet the people and feels she will win just because she’s a Democrat”. The man by the way said he would vote for Brown, a Republican.

My God, Ted must be spinning in his grave and Coakley better start checking her closet each night and under the bed for the Ghost of Ted. I bet she’ll get a visit every Christmas Eve from now on as Ted takes her through the Christmas’ of Politics past, present, future and what should have been.

Yes I’ve seen some, well I can’t say it here so I’ll clean it up, head up the boo-de-ay campaigns and races, but this one certainly is at the top of the “WTF Did I Do” heap.

Some will say, and with legitimate argument, that the Obama honeymoon is over, or that folks are afraid of what the proposed health care package for the Nation is going to cost and by adding one more Republican to the Senate will help to keep the Democrats under control with their spending. They can say that and even more.

No boys and girls here’s why Coakley lost. Because she was entitled to win.

When you run a campaign with the mindset that you are a shoe-in, and don’t take the normal effort of a good politician and get out among the people, show who you are and what you stand for and against, you are destined to fail. How many times have we seen that happen in baseball at the World Series or in football at the Super Bowl.

You as a politician are entitled to nothing, you earn your constituents votes. You are not handed a blank check with a signature. You don’t automatically get the keys to the Emerald City. As they use to say in the old Smith-Barney commercials, “You Earn It”.

I just hope Attorney General Richard Blumenthal here in Connecticut who will be running for retiring Senator Chris Dodd’s seat has been taking lots of notes on how not to run a campaign of entitlement.

If politicians were entitled to their postions, we would be living in a Monarchy …. or worse.

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