Massachusetts as Metaphor

Edward Kennedy, who died last August, was the patriarch of the most emblematic clan of the North American political left. The Kennedys gave all their support to Barack Obama, not because they had a special relationship with him, but because they knew that if the candidate in 2008 was Hillary Clinton, a new Democratic dynasty would have been set in the national scene that would have occupied the White House twice in two decades, much more than what the Kennedys were able to do.

Today, the first anniversary of Obama’s arrival to the office of president, the result will be known of the partial election in Massachusetts to complete Sen. Kennedy’s term. Few seats have been more secure among the 60 Democrats of the Senate. The Republicans have not occupied it for 57 years, and since then it has been the private property of the Kennedys. Such a significant seat has been the object of a tenacious fight, the result of which was unknown at the time this column was written. But it has forced President Obama to employ himself fully. Last weekend, when he should have been savoring the pleasures of his first year as president, Obama had to dedicate himself to the campaign in Boston in the fear that the majority of 60 seats that had allowed him to escape any attempt to block his agenda in the Senate would evaporate. The Senate majority leadership already studied contingency plans in order to impede the Republicans, so that even if they won yesterday in Massachusetts, they would not be able to block the health care reforms – for example, approving it in the next two weeks before the new senator takes his seat. Nice form, with respect to the public will.

In one year, Obama has gone from seeming like a messiah to having problems saving Kennedy’s seat. And if, when he reads this, it has been lost, “Houston, they have a problem.”