Blue State Discontent.
Vigorous, obtuse Jon Corzine's defeat is more about one man's failure than about the tiny, underfunded, poorly networked Republican party's success. New Jersey has been a Democratic stronghold state since Andrew Jackson. Christie is a pro and will work his state effectively in a severe downturn. Corzine will remain the same arrogant, aggressive banker he was when he handed Goldman Sachs off to Hank Paulson during the late Clinton years and bought the junior U.S. Senate seat in Jersey. Corzine's concession speech illustrates his discomfort and deafness. What of New Jersey? The times are troubled; the joblessness is a curse; the behemoth zombie banks have threatened or wrecked the high end mortgages in the Northern Jersey suburbs. Corzine departs a cipher. Christie enters a winner. Virginia's seventeen point win for McDonnell isn't not a match for the banker-laid-low narrative in Jersey.
23rd Malcontent.
The small twist of the evening in the New York 23rd, where newbie Bill Owens wins a food fight, overshadows both Jersey and Virginia for me. What of the GOP after the loss to a Democrat because of the malcontents of the Club for Growth pouring up to $1 million into the district to dry-gulch the GOP candidate? Civil war. The right-wing vanity fair is already preparing to demonstrate against Charlie Crist in Florida while threatening the GOP that any dissent from the Tea Party ruminations and prognostications will be punished with a primary challenge. One fresh change is that the right-wing seems to comprehend that a third party is futile. From now on, it will be primary, primary, primary as the GOP risks suicide. Is Rahm Emanuel chuckling, or is he just quietly lucky?
I remember back in 2008, Republicans campaigning for office asked Bush to stay away. They did not want to be seen with him. And he understood the political realities and did not impose himself.
This past election cycle, anemic an indicator (of anything) as it was, Obama was asked to appear with both Democrat gubernatorial incumbents. He was said to be the man of ‘hope and change’, after all; the man of the hour; of destiny; the Messiah; the man with the big mo, whose multi-colored, socialist mop could confidently sweep away any and all messes.
It didn't work. I know Obama came several times to embrace Corzine publicly and cause massive traffic disruptions in this, my hugely blue state. If a presidential visit or two works anywhere, it should have worked here.
There is perhaps a parallel that can be drawn here (between ‘W’ and Obama). I’m just not quite sure of how to articulate it.
Cynics will try to put the onus on a fickle and confused electorate. They would argue that, given, the people went wholesale for anything ‘not Bush’ during the last election cycle, is it then so difficult to believe that those same lemming-like clods would not also veer severely to the Right on the mere suggestion of talk radio blather? Or is it, perhaps, the executive branch itself that has become toxic; a sacrificial stone for any president?
Linking the anti-Bush and the anti-Obama sentiment in this way, however, lacks nuance. Anti-Bush was manufactured fun spun from whole cloth by nihilists, stand-up comics, propagandists and spoilers. Anti-Obama sentiment, on the other hand, spawns from a genuine fear that America is headed for the proverbial cliff. It is infinitely more potent than the care-free jabs at Republican governance over the office water cooler. There will be a bloodbath next year.
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
I just read this piece at Politico quoting Nancy Pelosi that the Dem's "won last night." The woman is certifiable. I don't expect her to cry (well, maybe.) or capitulate or declare her mate is checked. But to deny reality is surely not a comfort to her followers. And the rest of us can try to sleep tonight knowing she is two heart beats from the Presidency.
http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1109/Pelosi_dismisses_impact_of_New_Jersey_Virginia.html
Where's Jack Ruby when you need him?
Christie gave a pitch perfect speech. Reaganesque.
If he can put the NJ bureaucracy in its place, the GOP has a star. He needs to learn from the mistakes of Der Gubernator and fight Trenton every over every spending bill.