A View from Hawk Hill: Syllabus week tough on you? Try breaking in a new senator

I don’t know about you, but this last week and a half felt way busier than I expected it to.  As a second-semester senior, I was hoping to enjoy the finer things in life, which do not include reading for class until the early morning hours the first week back. Despite the unexpected onslaught of school work, this semester opened with a big bang and I am happy to be back on the original Hill—Hawk Hill.

But St. Joe’s students weren’t the only ones who were caught off guard this past week. The other “Hill,” the one in Washington, D.C., was also shocked this week by the election of Scott Brown, set to fill the vacant Senate seat in Massachusetts left open by Senator Ted Kennedy’s death in 2009. Not only is this former model, actor, basketball star, lawyer, and public servant capable of snagging a long-held Democratic Senate seat, but his presence also has the power to derail President Obama’s health care overhaul. 

Personally, I would rather sit at my desk on a Wednesday night and suffer through writing a fifty-page brief (it’s not fun) than have to be pegged or heralded as “the one” who endangered the health care plan.

Speaking of health care, Brown was a smart choice for the Senate seat during this highly political time. He sat in the state congress when Mitt Romney crafted Massachusetts’ universal health care system. Brown also voted in support of the plan and is on the record for saying he believes in basic coverage for all Americans. However, he does not condone the lack of transparency offered by the Obama administration nor the backdoor deals used to pass the current national healthcare bill.

Those ideals regarding health care and politics in general are what truly propelled Brown to victory. This special election transcended the personalities of the candidates. It was not Brown vs. Coakley, it was Let’s Slow Down vs.  Let’s Hurry Up. 

As little as personalities mattered, tried-and-true political smear tactics mattered even less. No matter how hard Keith Olbermann tried to smear Brown on his TV show, he failed to belittle the Republican. Jon Stewart satirized Olbermann’s insults and was able to coax a word many thought did not exist in Olbermann’s vocabulary: “sorry.”  (I knew there was a reason Stewart was voted the most trusted man in journalism.)  This example from the world of political entertainment showed how personality mattered less than integrity in this race.

As much as Democrats try to cite Brown’s defeat of Attorney General Martha Coakley as an isolated incident, they will not be able to downplay the significance of the election and the consequences it holds for the Democratic caucus and the nation.  Those who claim Obama crushed Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election must also acknowledge that Brown smoked Coakley in the same fashion.  Brown won 52 percent of the vote, only one percentage point less than Obama’s popular vote results.  And this race was about change, too—Massachusetts citizens ousted the Democrats from this seat for the first time in almost 30 years.

The best part of all of this crazy political commotion is that American citizens are watching and reacting. Over a frozen dinner Tuesday night, my roommate exclaimed, “I can’t believe a Republican won in Massachusetts!  That just doesn’t happen!”  I couldn’t have been prouder of her political prowess, and many other Americans just like her raised eyebrows at the surprise victory Brown had pulled. 

Citizens are not the only ones reacting to this state’s Senate race. I can only imagine the fear that ran down the spines of Congressional Democrats seeking reelection in 2010 when they witnessed Coakley concede the election. The worst part for the representatives shaking in their boots is that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama can only protect them for so long before they decide to jump ship as well. The Democratic Caucus went out of its way to support Coakley and pulled out the big guns to do so. Bill Clinton lent his name to Coakley’s campaign, and Obama even flew to Massachusetts—on Michelle’s birthday—in an effort to help her.

As the dust settles, the finger pointing has inevitably begun. Coakley claims the national caucus did not do enough for her on the campaign trail, which is absolutely ludicrous. How can you claim your caucus did not support you when they arranged for the President of the free world to come to your rally on his wife’s birthday?

Moving beyond the blame game, this special election provided many important lessons. The first is that the Republican Party is not dead despite the wishes of Democrats and even some of its own.

Second, this election will prove to be less about health care and more about the balance of power. Will health care pass? Who knows at this point. Will another presidential candidate be strong and willing enough to reintroduce such altering, far-reaching, and worthy initiatives? Only time will tell.

These questions do not have answers that can be found and understood through these election results. The biggest thing that this election proves is that Americans are both fickle and predictable. They are fickle because they just dethroned a Democratic seat.  They are predictable because they love a two-party system and will forever fantasize about political balance.

So if you think your week was crazy and a little out of the norm, just imagine how the 535 men and women working on Capitol Hill feel. It could be a lot worse than syllabus week.