Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Healey’s Lack of Leadership Experience Really Hurting

By

My boss’s comments reinforced several of my impressions from last night’s debate.  The first was that Healey appeared over-rehearsed.  Standing outside town hall holding my Deval Patrick sign last Tuesday I had a conversation with a gentleman who claimed to know that Healey had been working with media consultants for weeks honing her communications skills.  If that was true, I think it backfired.  Go check out the results of the Fox 25 poll on who won the debate.  Healey finishes a distant 3rd behind Deval and Mihos.  I’m convinced its because she spent the entire debate spouting rehearsed talking points instead of speaking from her heart and reacting to what the other three candidates were saying.  It left the impression of someone unable to think on her feet.

The second impression is that this race is going to be decided on leadership qualities and not on any particular issue.  Its not enough to have a seat at the table when state policies are being decided.  You’ve got to have the ability to both muster public opinion and persuade the members of the legislature in order to move your agenda forward.  Its not good enough to say that you tried to do some things but the big bad Democrats blocked you.  Healey has to be able to make the case that things will be different if she is elected or you’re voting for another four years of gridlock.  I don’t see that happening.

It almost seems as though the only card Healey has left to play is the public’s fear that the more conservative voices in our state will have no voice in state government if Deval wins.  The message of inclusion that Deval delivers at every event I’ve ever attended needs to be reinforced over and over.  The news coverage of last night’s debate treated the instances where Deval praised some of Healey’s ideas as a nice debating technique and not a genuine respect for his opponent’s contributions.  Once the public becomes convinced that Deval means what he says about inclusion, Kerry Healey really doesn’t have much left to run on.

Please share widely!
fb-share-icon
Tweet
0

Comments

  1. Except the Fox poll includes about 10 of my votes for Deval Patrick so it probably is so far from accurate as a “poll” can get. (Great website by the way too.)

    • But only because I had to vote again from my office machine to see the updated results.  I expect numbers in polls like these to get inflated, but what does it tell you that Healey is getted trounced so badly?  Does Christy Mihos have more people willing to inflate a poll than she does??

    • But only because you have to in order to see the new results.  And if I’m doing it for Deval, I can only assume that there are plenty of Kerry and Christy and Grace supporters doing it too, which you’d think would even it all out.  Although she didn’t lose her cool (except for the “you’re my hero” crack) I think it’s really hard to say that she came out all that well last night.  Even the editor of the Herald was saying that Deval won the debate last night!

      • Kerry Healey missed her opportunity to have a “real” Reagan moment….aka…”I payed for that Microphone”.  Healey could have showed us all that she was ready to be governor in an instant and stolen the entire show….but she couldn’t.  It’s not enough to be cool. She has to show us she can lead and she couldn’t.

        <

        p>
        Some analysts said she appeared to “cower” at one point. I don’t know if this is true or not.

        • What is leadership?  Surely it is more than a smart retort in a debate.

          <

          p>
          Every few weeks during an election year,… [a] pundit or civic spokesman announces that the state is in dire need of “leadership,” and needs people who will make the “tough decisions” necessary for the future of the state.

          <

          p>
          Such proclamations ignore the other key factor in the leadership equation: having the right principles. For political change to secure lasting benefits to the public, leadership must be informed by right principles. Strong leadership informed by wrong principles brings disaster.

          <

          p>
          I’ll take principles over poise, substance over style, and direction over demeanor any day.  My vote for governor isn’t going to be based on a congeniality contest.

          • you know it when you see it….as I said “I paid for that Microphone”.  I didn’t hear anything even close to that from Healey…people were calling some of the talk shows today suggesting that Mihos sounded like the typical angry complaining “male” scolding the “female” over bills etc.

            <

            p>
            That comparison does not leave Healey with a very strong image or giving anyone the idea that she can handle adversity.

            <

            p>
            A very smart guy I know once told me that people vote for Governor, Mayor and President looking for a protective figure. For legislative positions, they could vote for anyone else. 

            • Your comment about “scolding” is about Mihos, not Healey.  A zinger is great.  It gets attention, maybe even laughs.  But it is neither a sign of leadership nor strength. 

              <

              p>
              Patrick had a lot of good lines last night.  His point about not villifying the legislature intrigued me.  On the surface, it makes sense.  It was a wise thing to say.  But, then I think of what our legislature has done — the pork projects, the stonewalling with regards to moving towards open document format, the inaction on the big dig (because, let’s be honest here — it takes an act of the legislature to undo the MTA).

              <

              p>
              I just can’t envision the legislature responding to Patrick.  This isn’t his fault.  I just don’t beleive they can be reigned in.  If we lose an (R) seat in the congress, we might never see a roll call vote.  Our governance will be a closed process, with no checks and no accountability.  This worries me.  And it worries me more when I think about Patrick’s seeming tendency to build concensus.  Will that mean he allows some bad piece of legislation through in order to push his agenda?  Will he use the veto?

              <

              p>
              Now, I’ll admit Healey has earned my vote because of her policy positions, especially on education.  I’m also impressed that she has been able to get things accomplished with this legislature.  Melanie’s Bill for example.  The legislature didn’t want to hand a victory to this administration, but she got it done.

                • Charley, you don’t need to be condescending.

                  <

                  p>
                  A weak bill comes up from the legislature.  Step one is that the governor’s office has to veto it.  This an effective tactic that has kept bad bills off the books, or at the very least given some media attention to the actions of the legislature.  I’m concerned that with a one-party system, that scrutiny is gone.

                  <

                  p>
                  As for how legislation gets passed, politics is politics.  I neither suggest nor believe that Healey “strong-armed” the legislature.  For that matter, I don’t even know what you are referring to, but I’m sure if Patrick did it, you would call it his victory. 

                  <

                  p>

              • First, you say you can’t envision the legislature responding to Deval.  Do you have any reason to think they’ll respond any better to Healey?  We’ve had 16 years of this partisan finger pointing style of government and its gotten us nowhere.  Isn’t it about time to try something else?

                <

                p>
                Second, you ignore the impact that a re-energized, hopeful body of citizens can have on the legislative process.  If Deval can win the election with a strong mandate, and the grassroots movement that he’s developed over the last 18 months doesn’t just melt back into the woodwork, then he can apply the same kind of pressure that Romney/Healey used to pass Melanie’s Law, but on a much wider range of issues.

          • Strong leadership informed by wrong principles brings disaster.

            <

            p>
            Hmmm, where does that ring a bell.

            <

            p>
            Wait one second it will come to me.

            <

            p>
            Just one more second.

            <

            p>
            Got it!

            <

            p>
            George W. Bush

            • I’m no fan of the Bush adminstration.  Although my eyesight is just fine, thanks.  đŸ™‚

              <

              p>
              But the principles I was calling to question are Patrick’s.  I’ve read through his position papers.  I know, even though it hasn’t come out in the debates, that he does have detailed answers.  I just think they are wrong.  And despite how nice a person he seems to be, I just don’t think that conservative views are going to have a seat at the Patrick table.

              <

              p>
              I was impressed when I first heard him speak.  I was even more impressed when I saw him in attendance at a legislative “listening tour” regarding education reform.  I was utterly disappointed as I read more of his positions and found how far they were from what I had heard during that WBUR interview a year earlier. 

              <

              p>
              Good leader.  Wrong direction.

              <

              p>

Archives