In a sour and petulant column the day after the Super Tuesday primary, Joan Vennochi celebrated Clinton’s win as a wonderful feat for the Massachusetts Democratic party and a defeat for Ted Kennedy.
Her argument, titled, “A Loss for Kennedy,” was that Ted had received help from the Clinton’s in 1994 when he faced Mitt Romney, but wouldn’t reciprocate in 2008. It was the “Judas” accusation before James Carville.
But now Kennedy will have at least a vicarious last hurrah. A quintessential establishment Democrat, he was always ready to go his own way. The state’s key Democrats had another idea. With Hillary Clinton it was Tom Reilly all over again. It was her turn, Obama. Move over.
Everything that was wrong with the Clinton presidential campaign mirrors what is wrong with the Massachusetts Democratic party. She played the insider strategy to the hilt. The Bay State contingent did the same. Follow the smart money. Play Massachusetts Inside Baseball politics. It’s about the only game they know.
Vennochi quotes Sal DiMasi: “There are show horses and work horses. We’re the work horses.” In case you missed the point, she concludes with, ” The work horses beat the show horses. Clinton won.”
In Sunday’s Globe (June 8) column, Vennochi goes on and on about the need for “healing” among Massachusetts Democrats. And if a few activists have their noses out of joint, amends are in order. But the real point now is that Obama will carry Massachusetts overwhelmingly.
And the “work horses?” They’ll do just fine. Tommy Menino may yet be ambassador to the Vatican. Sal DiMasi may yet get his own talk radio show. And Andrea Cabral may look wistfully out of her office window while the Obama revolution glides on by.
big city chip on your shoulder.
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p>Many people are taking a chance with Obama, throwing caution to the wind, and hoping he is not a show horse. That is actually ther consensus among more than half the Obama voters I bet.
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p>BTW How can you argue that Hillary is/was not a work horse?
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p>Smalltown, you have been carrying this around since Super Tuesday? You candidate lost in Massachusetts and you believe Joan Vennochi rubbed your nose in it because she commented on it the next day, quoted Hillary people, and agreed more or less with what they said.
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p>More like a “very small – small town guy with a very large – big city chip on his shoulder”.
For all the pretensions and superficial differences, Obama is essentially a rerun of Jimmy Carter’s 1976 politics and campaign and coalition of support.
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p>The result was a narrow squeaking into office after all kinds of reality-devoid high hopes, mandate expended after a year or a little more, and endless centrist righteous blather that filled the remaining 2-3 years.
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p>You’re going to see Clinton again in ’12, and she won’t have much trouble. All this pretending it was about form- who is more establishment and insider than Kennedy+Kerry, and Obama lost anyway?
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p>Militant moderacy wants Obama, and the contest went to him because it’s a centrist year. (The Southern/Midwestern conservative Party establishment threw him all the caucuses out of fear of resistance to Clinton. The Texas caucus rigged for him were just the most flagrant example.) Hardcore liberals want Clinton- and if you look at her speech of Saturday, it’s because she represents the hardcore Party agenda. Obama represents reforms/lesser fixes and what you might call the softcore agenda.
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p>I hope you enjoy seeing all the Southern Democrats with Obama all the time. All the Blue Dogs, all the remaining DLCers, the Jimmy Carter sorts, the opportunists like Edwards, Bill Richardson, John Kerry. And then you’ll see just how progressive and anti-establishment Obama is.
If I were a gambling man, I’d put BIG money on a landslide victory in 2012 for THE most conservative Republican candidate after a failed Obama presidency. History (the Carter presidency) will repeat itself. Only then will all the flavor-of-the-day Democrat moonbats realize that Hillary was the right choice. Obama is a sexy one-night stand–not what you should marry. Sometimes I’m embarrassed to be a Democrat. How CAN we be so stupid?