Boston: The reality sets in!

Wow! Here it is – Thursday – and I’m still recovering from the Boston surprise! It feels like there are still aftershocks rocking Washington – along with an attendant change in democrat attitude. Suddenly, it’s all “bipartisanship” and “reaching across the aisle” again. What’s happened?

Perhaps the overwhelming message from voters has finally gotten through: “We’re tired of your arrogance; we’re tired of closed-door haggling; we’re tired of the exclusion from the process; we’re sick of the lies. And we want no part of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid forced agenda.”

Witness the speculation regarding possible post-election shenanigans: Some were concerned with an attempt to slow down Brown’s taking his seat if elected. In fact, two weeks ago, Massachusetts’ other senator John Kerry reportedly stated that he would seek to delay Brown’s seating if he won - to allow health care reform to pass. But now, all the players appear to be singing a different tune, including Kerry, who this morning, said that Brown’s confirmation and seating should proceed as quickly as possible. In fact, when Brown visited Kerry’s office this morning, his tone was entirely different. Kerry even went so far as to lecture Brown, telling him: “You have to work across the aisle around here to make things happen”. “The message that the people sent was – ‘Get the peoples’ business done. Do it responsibly, without partisanship’”. “I’m totally in favor of that”. (Now, that’s quite a reversal!)

So, how does this bode for Obamacare and perhaps other pending legislation like Cap and Trade? Apparently, a lot. In yet another bombshell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has now conceded that it isn’t possible to simply pass the Senate bill in the House. Doing so would allow bypassing the rest of the reconciliation process and instead, send it directly to the President’s desk for signature. In effect, she could be acknowledging the fact that she and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are dead in the water. Regarding health care reform, we could very well be back at the starting point. Both sides are probably assessing that possibility right now.

The message from the voters has been delivered. Is Washington finally listening? We’ll see…