Day: July 15, 2010

Senator Scott Brown: “Most Valuable Senator” To Likely Retirement In 2012!

Ronald 1 Comment

Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts rocketed to stardom and attention by winning the special election to succeed Senator Ted Kennedy through the end of the unexpired term to 2012!

He has proceeded to become, at least in Democratic minds, the “Most Valuable Senator”, as he has now caused the Democrats to win a few victories on legislation by providing the crucial “60th vote” to overcome the filibuster of his Republican colleagues!

Brown has played the politics game very well, playing hard to get his vote, and gaining major concessions from the Obama Administration on his most recent vote allowing passage of the Financial Reform legislation!

So Brown is a celebrity and a center of attention, but does that mean that he has a “free ride” or even “easy sailing” for the full Senate term in 2012, less than three years after winning the seat?

NO WAY would have to be the answer, as the Democrats, who control all the Congressional seats in Massachusetts, and dominate the state legislature, are not about to cede the “Kennedy Seat” to Scott Brown!

It is likely that a Kennedy family member, now rumored to be the Senator’s son, Ted Kennedy, Jr, who looks and speaks like his dad–totally the opposite of brother and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy–will run for the seat! He had never shown interest in electoral politics before, but he made a great impression at the funeral of his dad, and with the name “Ted Kennedy”, how could he lose to Scott Brown?

So, Senator Scott Brown, enjoy your fame and attention, but don’t count on being around after the end of 2012! It would be a major miracle for you to overcome the Kennedy dynasty!

1935 And 2010: Big Business Declares “War” On The American President! :(

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In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was starting the third year of the New Deal programs to tackle the Great Depression. His party, the Democrats, had gained a resounding mandate in the midterm elections, winning 9 seats in the House of Representatives and 9 seats in the Senate, the best performance ever for a sitting President in the first midterm election after being elected!

1935 also saw a major attack by big business corporations, declaring “war” on the New Deal as socialistic, and dangerous to American freedoms and liberty. They formed the American Liberty League and allied with right wing groups to attempt to stop the New Deal in its tracks! The nerve of the President to promote regulation and want to tax wealthy people was their rallying cry!

Now we are in the year 2010, and big business is early in beginning its attack on President Obama on the same grounds and using the same propaganda! The fact that financial regulation has just passed the Senate infuriates big business and conservative interests, which have now been responsible for having created the economic conditions that caused the Great Depression and the Great Recession! 🙁

Now the Supreme Court has made it easier for big business to get involved in political action designed to undermine the Obama Administration, and these interests are, therefore, not waiting until past the midterm elections, as they want to influence those results, and insure that nothing like 1934 occurs!

Big Business has made profits even in these difficult times, but refuses to spend to hire people and promote the economy, and it makes one wonder if the purpose is to insure that economic conditions are so bad four months from now as a method to insure the failure of the Obama agenda in the next two years!

Just as FDR faced an antagonistic Supreme Court in the 1930s, Obama has a Court determined to promote big business now during his time in office. The common themes of FDR’s time and Obama’s time are a reality, but the battle for Obama to maintain enough support to gain passage of the rest of his agenda goes on! 🙁