Mr. Brown goes to Washington

Congratulations and good luck to Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. You're going to need it.

I suspect President Barack Obama's first meeting with the Wrentham Republican will include a quick thank you for plucking the target of "The One" off his presidential shoulders. After all, Brown now carries the hopes and aspirations of the free world on his hunky shoulders. For example:

Scott Philip Brown became the 50th US senator from Massachusetts yesterday, completing his historic transformation from little-known Republican state lawmaker to a national phenomenon who personified widespread voter unrest and changed the direction of American politics.

And you better hurry up Senator. Those restless voters don't have much patience for anyone who can't wave a magic wand and change things overnight.

To be fair, he is did not seek the hype. Then again, Obama never sought the outlandish expectations heaped upon him by the John McCain camp. But since when is anything fair in politics?

Brown's "three week victory lap" was starting to strike even Howie Carr as noteworthy. Between Barbara Walters and lobbying to return Ayla to Idol it's a wonder he managed to pick a staff.

And I did find it noteworthy that the good ol' boy truck was replaced by a Cadillac Escalade for the trip to his swearing-in yesterday. Hmm, I seem to recall another politician getting pilloried for that choice of vehicle -- even if it was selected for him by police for security reasons.

As the 100th person in seniority in a sclerotic, dysfunctional debating society Brown has a tough enough job without the weight of expectations heaped upon him.

But, my conservative friend(s), think about the standards you set before you accuse me of not giving the man a chance.

I'll be taking some much-needed r & r and will be checking out for awhile. As always, thanks for stopping by and y'all come back now, y'hear.

Amazing Grace

You have to hand it to Grace Ross -- she loves chasing windmills.

The Green Party candidate for governor is 2006 is trying again, this time as a Democrat. It's likely to be a quixotic challenge to Deval Patrick right up the the time she needs to get 15 percent of the convention delegates to get on the Democratic ballot.

Ross becomes the sixth person in the race -- I guess the job market really is tight. I also suspect Patrick's folks are mildly amused at a challenge from the left.

It could actually be a good thing to help him sharpen messages -- as long as he can start raising enough cash to compete in a multi-front battle.

Drama King

Maybe I ought to add Lauren Beckham Falcone to my reading list.

I suspect her Tuesday column in the Herald had a lot to do with yesterday's sudden "demand" by Sen.-elect Scott Brown's lawyer that the Wrentham Republican be seated immediately.

I'm sure it was just a "coincidence" the letter was written just as state officials were finishing up the election certification process and were ready to seat him today.

Let's not forget it was Brown himself who had targeted Feb. 11 for a swearing-in. All that talk about the Democrats trying a try through a heath care bill evaporated with the loss of heat from the campaign.

WBZ's Jon Keller suggests the date was set for Brown's convenience -- enough time to get a functioning office staff together.

But with the Brown presidential boomlet gaining steam with each passing day -- and the senator-elect clearly enjoying his 15 minutes of fame, something had to give. Beckham Falcone hit the nail on the head:

Yes, Brown’s meteoric rise is fascinating. He hasn’t even resigned from the state senate and he’s considering a 2012 run for president.

But he’s this close to overexposure. And that never ends well.

Just ask Britney Spears. Or Lindsay Lohan. Whitney Houston. Charlie Sheen. Michael Jackson. Tara Reid. John Edwards. Not even for Barack Obama, who, like Brown, was a three-term state senator-turned U.S. senator who seduced the nation and became president. But a year later? Like the bank bailouts, he’s about as popular as a root canal. Even Amber Lee Ettinger, aka “Obama Girl,” told Sean Hannity that she’s over him.

Scott Brown and John Edwards (not to mention Lindsay Lohan) in the same breath? Now that's trouble.

While Beckham Falcone fails to mention her own newspaper was part of that overexposure -- though surely not in the same league as Barbara Walters -- the daily fawning headlines about his modeling career, his lobbying for daughter Ayla to return to American Idol -- were not, um, senatorial.

Enter Dan Winslow with a letter demanding Brown be seated "without delay." No matter that the certification calendar had been clearly spelled out and the process was nearing completion.
The real goal was for stories in national media portraying the chomping-at-the-bit senator-elect fighting against still more Democratic delays.

Overly dramatic but probably necessary for a story line that was careening out of control -- started by the media but tolerated by the Brown camp until the criticism came from inside the cheerleading squad.

But the fame clock keeps on ticking.

The 100th senator

Gosh, golly gee whiz. Scott Brown got into his truck and drove to South Boston to have a few beers with a radio talk show host to fulfill his first campaign promise. Hope he didn't drive home buzzed.

Actually it seems his political handlers are the ones who are hung over after the upset that catapulted Brown into the national spotlight as the 100th member in seniority in the United States Senate. Right behind Al Franken.

You remember Al, the Saturday Night Live comic whose recount victory dragged on endlessly. It was in all the papers and on TV. He was the decisive 60th Democratic vote. Disappeared off the face of the political earth.

Which is exactly what will happen to the 41st senator if he continues to eat up his 15 minutes of fame in large chunks before he ever gets sworn into office.

Take for example the now famous Barbara Walters interview. A humbled Brown coyly sidesteps Walters' question about his interest in the 2012 presidential race, humbly noting:

I don't even have a business card. I haven't even been sworn in. And it is very humbling and flattering but my job is to do the best possible job I can, very quickly -- hopefully sooner rather than later -- to represent the people of Massachusetts."

Good answer but not great. Not for a man whose principal focus in 2012 is seeking election for a full six-year term. Ever hear of a Shermanesque statement? You can bet that handlers for Democrats who will be checking out their prospects to reclaim the seat have duly recorded the failure to deflate the trial balloon being tossed up by smitten Republicans.

Yeah, there may well be a few competent political handlers out there making a list of Brown's verbal gaffes since Election Night. And candidates capable of running a better race than Martha Coakley.

A large part of the problem is the lack of substance available between the victory and the swearing-in. This is likely to be the last time Brown has such an unobstructed forum to spell out who he has, what he believes in and what he plans to make his priorities. Even the star-struck Herald might listen.

By squandering the limelight, and by failing to squash political dangerous rumors, Brown becomes open to sentiments like this searing op-ed by the Globe's Scot (hey only one T? Get on the band wagon) Lehigh, who has a lot more readers than me.

But Brown actually has an opportunity to avoid the abyss that has claimed Franken. With the Obama political team reawakening, aiming to challenge Republicans to do more than say no, Brown could indeed be relevant.

Of course he runs the risk of being dead to his 40 Senate GOP colleagues and bursting the presidential balloon.

Real health care reform

Just when you thought the subject of health care reform could not go farther off track we are treated to the brilliance of some states looking to cope with the primary care physician shortage by piling yet another responsibility on them.

Writing prescriptions for cold medication.

I've already railed about the criminalization of getting a cold, forcing you to go to the pharmacist, produce your diver's license and swear the one box of pseudoephedrine is really for your clogged nasal passages and not some under-the-counter plot to brew up a batch of crystal meth in your basement.

But now, at least in some states, the powers that be think it should be even harder for the cold sufferer. Proposals in some states would require you to call the doctor and involve an already over-burdened health care system in one of the most basic and easy-to-solve problems in medicine -- the common cold.

The logic of the move suggests the next step after that, being denied health insurance coverage for a pre-existing condition -- the sniffles.

Here's a suggestion for all those folks who think the overburdened system can stand a little more trivialization -- pick on the real lawbreakers. By requiring people to sign for their over-the-counter remedy you already should have a good idea who the abusers are. And if not, why not?

Looks who's on that bandwagon

As the Herald's Scott Brown Bandwagon continues its inevitable roll to the White House (apparently with Mitt Romney under the wheels), it seems appropriate to take a look at who else is on board.

The Herald sidestepped the substance of Brown's interview with "doyenne" Barbara Walters to focus on the burst of national attention the senator-elect has received since beating Martha Coakley two weeks ago.

The cheerleaders also missed the fact that financial executives were on the same bandwagon, showering $450,000 in cash in six days to make sure Wall Street would be heard (and perhaps drown out) Main Street.

Richard Hillman, an analyst for First Wilshire Securities who lives in California, said he was following the Massachusetts election only casually, and decided to give to Brown at the last minute, when a friend told him the race was unexpectedly close. “I ended up giving money through my credit card that afternoon,’’ said Hillman, who contributed $2,400 on Jan. 16.

“Basically, I thought making him the 41st Republican vote in the Senate would prevent some really terrible legislation from getting through,’’ he said.

Obviously the jury is still out on what Brown will actually do when he gets sworn in and casts real votes. But it's time for the fevered promotion of the grassroots phenomenon to pull back in light of the fact there is obviously some serious landscaping efforts as well as some AstroTurf under the wheels.

Half a choice

So apparently Sen.-elect Scott Brown, who won the endorsement of the anti-abortion movement, says he is for a woman's right to choose.

Except of course if they are too poor to afford private insurance.

That's a choice that's guaranteed to get everyone annoyed. Is that what a "Scott Brown Republican" is?

It should at least end all the silly talk of him vaulting ahead of Mitt Romney in the 2012 GOP presidential nomination sweepstakes.

There they go again

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I continue to be amazed at the insistence of the national media in drawing broad conclusions about the Massachusetts Senate race -- without spending any time on the ground here.

Today's New York Times features not one, but two stories talking about the GOP's potential resurgence based on Scott Brown's win over Martha Coakley. The story about a national resurgence is datelined Honolulu. The New England story is datelined Washington.

When I was trained as a young reporter I was told I should get out and talk to real people in the community to understand what's taking place. What I see here is echo chamber reporting, made even more egregious because these self-same experts didn't even see the the results coming.

And a case can be made that the Times' Adam Nagourney is guilty of seriously burying his lead. The premise of his piece is Democrats are vulnerable in part because of the Tea Party impact on Brown's last-minute surge. But Nagourney buries the words of Dick Armey.

“This is not a situation where the grass-roots activists are saying, ‘What can we do to make ourselves attractive to the Republicans?’ ” he said. “It is ‘What can we do to help the Republicans understand what they must do to be attractive to us.’"

Considering it was the grass-roots movement that helped lift Scott Brown to victory in the Massachusetts Senate race, losing that source of support would be a setback [GOP party chairman Michael] Steele presumably would not welcome at what would seem to be such an auspicious moment for his party.

Isn't that a direct contradiction of his lead?

Get a truck!

Wow, you would think Charlie Baker was a Democrat or something with the bad press he's gotten in the days leading up to his formal announcement that he's seeking the Republican nomination for governor.

With Scott Brown mania continuing to grip the world, the solid ground work that Baker has laid to date seems to be evaporating like Martha Coakley's poll numbers. First you have the Herald hitting him over the head with the fact he's raised a slew of cash from the folks who worked in his former industries -- health care and government.

And now we have the GOP faithful saying he's um, dull. How long will it take someone to call him an oversized Mike Dukakis, a right-leaning wonk?

Heck, the next thing we know, Christy Mihos will be calling himself the average guy in the race -- because he can't pay his bills.

Can any of Charlie's kids sing?

Barack and the lion's den

You know it made great political strategy and boffo theater -- Barack Obama venturing into a House Republican retreat to speak (somewhat) with a cadre of his principal antagonists.

Personally I think the high moment came when Republicans complained the administration had launched its "attack machine" against them. If Democrats had an attack machine (or at least one equal to the power of the GOP version) the Democratic Congress would have three-quarter majorities in each and not be cowering in the corner fearful of the Party of No.

And personally, I have a hard time thinking the GOP had much of an interest in real dialogue when they opted for talking points of questions like this gem from Texan Jeb Hensarling (why do I also get an image of a sneering chicken when I read his name?)

“Will that new budget, like your old budget, triple the national debt and continue to take us down the path of increasing the cost of government to almost 25 percent of our economy?

Nothing like an open mind pal. What have you done for us lately (other than trigger the Great recession of course?)

Where the Outraged Liberal comes from

The passing of Howard Zinn was almost like the loss of a family member and the volume and tone of comments I have seen and read suggests that I'm not alone. Like one of the interviewees in today's Globe story I can say he truly changed my life.

As a BU political science major in the turbulent Vietnam War era, it was also more than a passing relationship. In all, I took three courses with Zinn, including a directed look at United States foreign policy after World War II. I was at BU during his celebrated clashes with John Silber.

Zinn opened my eyes to a reality you didn't learn about in high school civics classes. He was a great lecturer -- his classes were never dull. But don't let anyone tell you he wasn't a tough and demanding teacher.

Howard Zinn was responsible for the outraged part of my political persona, although as the Globe points out, rage and anger were not his things. But graduating from college and entering the real world meant I needed to add a little pragmatism to the idealism. And for that, I can thank Michael Dukakis.

His 1978 primary election loss to Edward J. King was a searing moment that suggested perfection isn't possible and an imperfect vessel is a lot better than no vessel at all. It's a lesson my fellow progressives should heed as they evaluate Barack Obama.

Sorry Charlie

Not sure you will be able to replicate this (and for the candidate's sake I hope you can't), but it was a bit disconcerting to say the least to be reading the Globe's story about the relationship between Massachusetts health insurers and its hospitals and have an advertisement interrupt my reading.

Particularly when the image was that of Charlie Baker, the former head of one of those insurers and now running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Needless to say I didn't click to hear what he had to say about whatever topic he might have had in mind. I was more annoyed that the ad blocked the text and I couldn't find the "close" button."

It's certainly not the candidate's doing but I would suggest the Globe's advertising whizzes at least figure out better placement for these annoying intrusions into our reading.

Fiscal facts

There's a clamor in Washington coming out of the Republican Party over the size of the US budget deficit, which has indeed ballooned as part of efforts to deal with the massive economic meltdown.

But as always, there's something missing from the GOP arguments: context:

The budget surplus when Bill Clinton left office to George Bush: $236 billion.

The budget deficit when George Bush left office to Barack Obama: $490 billion.

Republican claims of fiscal credibility in the face of a near three-quarters of a trillion dollar turnout: Priceless.