Tim Fernholz says Democrats aren't framing the political debate with any success, and their equivocations leave them open to right-wing attacks and progressive suspicion. It's laughable to see the same party that just six years ago saw its presidential candidate and congressional slate trounced deciding that the "Obama era" is over after losing one Senate seat, even as a Democratic president and congressional majorities remain in office. George W. Bush never had it so good. That's not to minimize what is an embarrassing setback. Losing a long-Democratic seat in a special election when a (barely) filibuster-proof majority hung in the balance illustrates a sense of complacency among national Democratic operatives that must be avoided if they wish to protect their majorities come November. Martha Coakley's lazy and gaffe-ridden campaign was inexcusable. Nonetheless, if progressives are serious about governing, this is not a time for complaint but for rededication. More important than the postmortem hand-wringing is taking a lesson from the loss: Democrats aren't framing the political debate with any success, and their equivocations leave them open to right-wing attacks and progressive suspicion. Take health-care reform: Scott Brown, the newest senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, supported MassCare reforms as a state legislator but opposes a very similar project on a national scale. This should have been an opportunity for Coakley to educate Massachusetts voters on the strengths of the bill in Congress and why it will work across the country; instead, Coakley said she was disappointed in the Senate bill even as she promised to vote for it. KEEP READING. . .
