The damage limitation program has already been activated, in Britain, Channel 4 News this evening demoted the story of Republican Scott Brown's victory over Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts senate race right down to the sixth news item. Those of us who cringed at the sight of a male news anchor almost swooning when reporting President Obama's effortless fly swatting skills may have found it odd that a channel usually so excited to report any Obama related news story actually waited twenty minutes before even mentioning this one. However, the narrative this evening was that Massachusetts election was not an important story.Channel Four even wheeled on a talking head to assure us that this was nothing more than a minor inconvenience for the chosen one, who will still be able to pursue his agenda without any great difficulty, and that Bush, Regan and even Bill Clinton faced similar problems. Indeed, he even compared it to a surprise mid-term bi-election upset.
Elsewhere, I have today read claims that the average Boston voter is a right wing racist with a sexist reluctance to vote for a female candidate, all designed to make this seem no big deal.
Of course on the surface, the Massachusetts result was merely one election battle between a handsome and charismatic Republican contender and a dull Democratic candidate who fought a lacklustre campaign. Regardless of the result, the Democrats have not lost their majority and can still pass legislation, albeit less easily.
However, all this ignores the fact that this result took place in Massachusetts, a state which voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008. Republicans do not win in Massachusetts. This was the the only state in the whole of America to vote Democrat in Nixon's pre-Watergate landslide. Look at a map from that period, and all of America is Republican red with a tiny blue smudge called Massachusetts.
We have all head the statement that Massachusetts has not elected a Republican Senator since 1972, however, that statement in itself underplays the significance of this event. The Senator in question was Edward Brooke, a liberal Republican and the first African American to be elected to the Senate by a popular vote.
This is the first time that Massachusetts has elected a white, fiscally conservative and largely socially conservative, Republican (Brown supports abortion but opposes gay marriage) in over half a century.
No wonder Democrats are nervous, if this can happen in Massachusetts, it can happen anywhere.
It did not take long for the gloss to wear off Obama's chariot and reveal it as the one horse cart it is. However, this is only the beginning, the Democrats are on the run, and that is when they play dirt.
It will be interesting to see how the media play this, they lied through their teeth to get Obama elected when the public were only too willing to believe their lies. Given that the public mood has changed and is no longer so willing to believe the lies, they will have to go the extra mile for their man.
We can look forward to a character assassination campaign against Obama's opponent in 2012 which will make those against Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008 look like a gentle massage.
