Well, well, well. The Democrats have lost possibly the bluest blue seat in the entire Congress. Serves them right. The arrogance of somehow thinking the so called "Kennedy Seat" belonged to them as an inherited piece of property has blown up in their faces and has taken President Obama's agenda with it. True, Martha Coakley was a very poor candidate who ran a lousy, almost detached campaign. But the bare naked truth is that this was most decidedly a referendum on the president, his agenda (particularly health care) and his party. You can't force left center policy down the throat of a right center populace, even in Taxachusetts.
The Dems are going to have to regroup on health care. They don't dare to try to sneak it through with some legislative slight of hand before Scott Brown is certified and seated. The House wil never accept the Senate version of the bill as is, so the strategy of having the House pass the Senate bill to avoid reconciliation and another Senate vote is dead.
Looks like they are going to have to do what they should have done in the first place; go back to the drawing board, invite the Republicans back into the discussion, and work on some incremental but meaningful reforms.
