Good effin’ luck to him, he will need it.
On paper his is a formidable candidacy, Steve Grossman has signed up as his fundraiser and the usual suspects among local dems have already gathered around Reilly like moths to a flame. Reilly has already run statewide twice and can easily step up organizationally and thematically to the Corner Office-or so spouts the conventional wisdom.
Humble Elias though, has his doubts. The democrats haven’t elected anyone Governor from an inferior statewide office in nigh on forty years. Dukakis was a former state legislator at the time of his election in 1974 and King was the head of Massport in 1978.
Moreover, a biblical host of statewide aspirants have gone down in flames over the last fourteen years, Bellotti (another Attorney General), Harshbarger (ditto and the same) and O’Brien, herself the State Treasurer. All were judged wanting in their respective races. Clearly the electorate dominated as it is by fickle independents places a low value on experience in politics.
If nominated Reilly would be running against one Willard Mitt Romney a tragically inept buffoon whose one political strength is in casting his opponent as a exemplar of a corrupt regime on Beacon Hill. Decaf is a cheap and puerile dilettante in every way but he understands intuitively his precious darlings in the suburbs all hate,fear, and ultimately misunderstand state government...this renders them easy prey for a political hyena like Romney. So if its Reilly, then brace yourself for another defeat.
Sadly this doesn’t have to be the case, Romney has racked up a stunning record of defeat and sheer unmitigated stupidity in the past two years. Last night Channel 56 reported that the “Liberty Tunnel” had sprung not one but two leaks reducing southbound traffic to one lane and creating a mile long slowdown. Yet the only mention of our governor in today’s Globe was in the society pages which reported that his pious jests went over big at the Gridiron Club in Washington DC. You see the problem? The Big Dig is taking on water and all Willard can do is crack smarmy down on the Potomac.
James Michael Curley would’ve personally rushed to the leak and started patching it with duct tape, even a dolt like Ed King would’ve acted...but not our Mitt he keeps touring the nation in search of greener pastures. It doesn't take brains to fix the Big Dig, it does take a talent for governance, and a willingness to put the public interest ahead of Bechtel Parsons...something Willard cannot and will not do. This is a failure of leadership and it ought to be hung round Romney's neck like a toilet seat for all to see.
What the democrats need is a candidate from outside the local political milieu, someone with money, and someone who can make the case that Romney is a fraud and a dilettante and very much a part of the problem. The Attorney General or the Secretary of State no matter how bright their bona fides can’t make this case to those sweet independents. These are people who read the newspaper once a year and vote out of a mindless distrust for governance itself. They don’t see what is at stake. They aren’t stupid, they are ignorant and naive...most of their dearest clichés simply haven’t yet been sullied. Somehow we’ve got to make their suspicion and lack of trust work for us.
No comments :
Post a Comment