Hope'n'change in Massachusetts

manuel escott

There may be many reasons for the Massachusetts voters' anger that will send Republican Scott Brown to the Senate to fill Ted Kennedy's seat. As I see it, the major reason was voter perception that the Obama administration had neglcted job creation, insteade focussin on health care. American voters, as I discoveredin a long road sojourn this month, are furious at the billions of dollars in the bank bail-out and fat bonuses handed out to bank executives. Paul Krugman, the great economics columnist at the New York Times, has repeatedly attacked the government for their inaction on jobs. He proved to be right, despite Rahm Emanuel's contemptous remark abou t him. Maybe it's tim for Emanuel and some other advisors to the President to go.

Truthtriumphs

Yes.
But by the time Obama is removed from office in 4 years time, it will be too late ---- Iran will be a nuclear power, unless there's a people's revolt to stop it.
Interesting, that the last great American appeaser of a president, namely Carter, is responsible for the mess we are in now.
It will be interesting to see whether the disgraceful events unfolding on our side of the Atlantic, namely the show trial of Geert Wilders which opened today in Holland, in which he is on trial for speaking the truth about those who wish to destroy us, will have any impact on the thought processes of America's rulers.

Joe Strummer

Of course, the infamously impartial BBC television news coverage of both Scott Brown's incredible victory and the simultaneous damning indictment of Obama's first year administration was predictably reported by Matt Frei as just a minor blip in the grand scheme of things and only a trivial issue which has been faced before by other Presidents. Always look on the bright side, eh Matt ?

Dixon

Newsnight said that 18% of those who voted for the Republican were people who had voted for obama!

I find it all highly entertaining. When even Ch4 news and Newsnight find it necessary to recite a list of issues on which Obama has dissapointed people, then one suspects that the rot has really set in.

Having Obama in office may not be good for leadership of the civilised world, but its certainly great entertainment.

Lucy H

He's an outside bet by some margin but some American websites I read say the country may be ready for Dick Cheney to run for President in 2012.

He may be old and may have been unpopular because of Iraq but if America wants to be safe from its enemies and its appeasing imbecile 'allies', he's the man to do it.

Kiran

In the words of Mark Steyn 'thats what happens when you make a community organiser the leader of the most powerful nation on earth'.

Major Plonquer

Surely Obama will ride to the rescue? Surely he will make another of his inspirational 'Yes We Can' speeches? Yes, I can hear it now.....

'Yes, we can healthcare reform. That's what I meant all along. Vote for me.'

d1carter

Mel, the 2010 American Revolution is just beginning. BHO hasn't seen anything yet. We are now awake and we are paying attention.

Trev

Hang on,i still dont get where the Nobel prize came from,are am i missing something?

Disenchanted

Scott Brown speaks for sane people everywhere. Is there anyone senior in the Conservative Party with the wit or courage to rally the British people?

Pot Head

If Democrats lose 18 more Senate seats they'll have 41 and, thus, a mandate.

yaakov haimovic

you can't fool all the people all the time. it is as simple as that.

davod

"Surely Obama will ride to the rescue? Surely he will make another of his inspirational 'Yes We Can' speeches? Yes, I can hear it now....."

Don't forget the most profound statement of all

"We are the change we have been waiting for"

Then there was the statement about Obama making the waters recede.

Robbit

And the lights all came on in Massachusetts, Massachusetts is one place that I love...

Tony Brown

Scott Brown made it to the Senate because the Democrats are spliting into progressives and old time Democrats and moving too far to the left on defence, economics, security and civil rights

Rachael

Barack Obama - another piece of junk that the Conservative Party bought huge numbers of ideological shares in.

This is David Cameron's track record on ideological investment, folks.

Once again - as with 'global warming' - Call Me Dave has made himself ideologically bankrupt by following the smug media news cycles. Dave was even using the hope'n'change rhetoric that was always rubbish and only ever talked up by propagandists posing as journalists in the mainstream media.

Tiberius

I go along with the idea that the Americans experienced a collective neurosis when they voted in Obama. But perhaps they have started to redeem themselves.

It is tempting to go back to comparisons with the British electorate. Can anyone imagine that William Hague would have won a by-election in May 1998? Perhaps Obama is just unlucky that he didn't get a Diana moment in his first year.

Edward in the USA

Remember you read it here first folks...

Scott Brown will be the Republican candidate for President of the US.

Augustus

A shattering defeat for the Democrats in a historic home state. They not only lose their 60th seat in the Senate so that the Republicans can invoke a filibuster if they so choose. But more important than that is that this race was a virtual referendum about Obama's socialist agenda. Those plans have now been well and truly rejected by voters, and in the most liberal state of the Union.
The Wall Street Journal calls it
'not the defeat of the messenger
but the message', but the emperor is standing there with no clothes, just another politician, as vulnerable as any other. A 'messiah' now treading water instead of walking on it. Take a bow Massachusetts! Roll on 2012!

Liz

Augustus, will he last that long? I give him another 18 months. Maximum.

Bob from Virginia

I think you are right Liz. Impeachment sometime in 2011.

Ronnie

Liz.

What do you think will happen in 18 months?

A leadership challenge? A snap general election? The Queen summoning the Home Secretary and the leaders of the other two main parties to the Palace?

Raymond Douglas

Obama , by setting his face against Israel , and using such terms as "Occupation " to describe Jerusalem and Jewish settlements , is the author of hi own downfall . One of the main reasons for America's success as a nation, has been its backing for Israel however limited that backing has actually been ! But by talking the language of the PLO/Ha mas , he will bring himself down . the question is, does America want to go down with him ?

Raymond Douglas

All our politicians , call me Dave included , Have bought into the Obama myth . As has the BBC. They all a bit quiet now eh ?

In the Wilderness in America

The demonizing of Sentor-elect Scott Brown has already started by the mainsteam media with MSNBC leading the charge. For example, Keith Olberman, MSNBC news analyst and consumate wit, called Brown a baby killer. Has a way with words, doesn't he?

Anyway, aside from the hit squad, represented by Olberman, there was a feeling on the MSNBC sets as if someone dear in the family had died. You almost saw the black shrouds hanging from backdrops of the sets.

Well, something indeed died. It was the political agenda of Barack Obama, which was the mainstream media's agenda as well. They only have their arrogance and their ideological extremism to blame.

Liz

Yes, something like that, Bob. And of course, there are other ways that Presidents disappear off the scene too. Though, none Ronnie's too clever by half stuff, of course.

Sergey

This is certainly a big blow to Obama's ambitions, but it has much wider implications. This popular revolt is not against healthcare or some other specific policy, but against the whole culture of politics as usual, against political class in Washington and in the states. Peasant revolt? Not, middle class revolt against arrogant politicians accustomed to threat citizen as "peasants".

MikeF

Well this certainly represents 'change' compared with how things were just months ago.

Susan Hill

The heartening thing is that it has taken the USA one year only to see through Obama. It's only begun to dawn on the UK afer 13 years that Blair was Bliar and NuLab a con - we won`t even bother to mention Brown.

FrankP

What Augustus said

Plus: Woot! Woot!

George

And now the US Supreme Court have totally opened the playing field with today's unbelievably stupid decision to lift corporate finance limits.

ahem

Cheney? No. None of the old corruptocrats--of either party. This is a return to traditional American center-of-the-road classical liberalism. The election represents the collective awakening of a group of people who finally realized that their beloved Obama is a liar and a committed Leftist and that the SDS wing of the party--the ones that were vilified for their radical craziness and violence in the 60s--has taken over. Americans are pretty trusting, and they''ll let many things slide, but, at the end of the day, they aren't stupid. I only hope they've awakened early enough to fight off the totalitarians at the wheel.

Ronnie

'Impeachment by 2011', that's exciting isn't it? Though not half as thrilling as Liz's 'other means' (we all know what that means).

And then there is the kidnapped-by-aliens scenario favoured by most realists.

John Richardson

OK.

You will have seen these before ,but anyway.....

You simply must go to YouTube and see
'Hitler Finds Out Scott Brown Won Massachusetts Senate Seat'

I give you a cast iron guarantee of satisfaction.
Honest.

Graeme

Why is this man not the leader of our Conservative Party?

Michael

Dick Cheney?

Stop the world, I wanna get off!

Michael

I've been a Democrat all my life, but I am very much looking forward to voting against the Democratic party this fall.

As someone who participates on left-liberal blogs such as Daily Kos, I can tell you that there is much, much hatred toward Israel on the grassroots / netroots of the Democratic party and considerable sympathy for organizations like Hamas.

That lets me out!

I voted for Obama, but I'll not make that mistake again.

Good for Scott Brown

David

An American friend of mine who is a liberal said.....'we knew we had a problem with Obama when he bowed so low and long to the King of Saudi Arabia,someone who rules a country where people are given 10 years in prison for carrying a Bible and where they stone rape victims to death.....people who voted for him knew at that point something was seriously wrong'....

Baron

Susan Hill @ 5.40:

Call me a cynic, but wasn’t the money flowing till 2007?

The once perceptive electorate of this country traded an over-buttered bread for a bunch of people whose policies, even if meant well, have near destroyed the fabric of the society.

Michael

I wonder, is it too late for the Maggie Thatcher / Dick Cheney dream ticket then?

The unstoppable force of the righteous would then surely have two totemic figureheads to lead them back to the top table of power. And from there? Who knows! World glory awaits, the American way heading YOUR way, whether you like it or not.

Can't wait.

Sam Armstrong

I am currently in Miami Beach, and with no reporting on the Geert Wilders trial, have been watching this slow motion train crash via Fox News.

I have to say that I do believe the Republicans can fight back. The wonderful Sarah Palin was on FOX News last night, she really has it in for Obama, she's still energetic and charismatic.

Sadly, craven Europe has capitulated to fascism, but over here the fight back has begun. Don't forget that the Great One only had a 51% share of the vote.

He's history. Forget him, the Americans are on to him big time, and they're gonna get rid.

Rob-NY

I am pleased that the Massachusets election is getting attention in Europe. It is a perfect example of a genuine bipartisan grassroots movement stopping a massive and arrogant Democrat Party machine in its tracks.
Moments like this make me proud to be an American.

Doc Holliday

Just one point. He [Obama] isn't the 'leader of the free world'. He's the leader of the USA.

The 'free world' doesn't get to vote on the matter, do they? Which, in turn, makes them 'not free'.

John A. Davisonj

Barack Hussein Obama is an incendiary radical whose sole goal is to destroy Democracy wherever it exists. He has hated this nation ever since, as a teenager, he fell under the spell of Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Coummunist Party USA and friend of Paul Robeson, another member.

Obama has deliberately circumvented the Constitution to erect a shadow government including the most radical elements of the contemporary political scene. In my opinion he is the only truly dangerous person ever to occupy the Oval Office. He should be impeached for violating the only thing that the Presidential Oath of Office swears to protect, defend and preserve - the Constitution of the United States of America.

Leila Lacrosse

There are still 3 more years - I am not giving up hope!

As an American living in London I can only hope that one day my country has a national health care system. For all it's faults, the NHS is still an enviable system and one we could not live without in the UK. leilalacrosse.livejournal.com

lawrence taylor

@ disenchanted

Scott Brown speaks for sane people everywhere. Is there anyone senior in the Conservative Party with the wit or courage to rally the British people?

What? I am David Cameron and I drive a truck?