Wake-up call from Massachusetts

Massachusetts voters triggered an electoral earthquake Tuesday by decisively putting Republican Scott Brown into a Senate seat that has been held by the Kennedy family and its allies for more than 50 years.

Some Democratic observers viewed it as a reflection of a listless, belated and lazy campaign on the part of Martha Coakley, which is partly true, because it did appear that she was just going through the motions for a victory that appeared all but certain.

But Democrats who paint the loss that way do so at their own peril.

Brown’s victory is more widely and correctly viewed as a referendum on health-care legislation and the priorities of the Democratic leadership in Washington, D.C.

Never before has such sweeping, transformative legislation been pushed so relentlessly without any minority party support and against a majority of the public that clearly opposes it in poll after poll.

Despite all the claims made by backers of health-care “reform,” the American people have strong suspicions that Congress is rushing headlong into legislation that would lead to bigger government, more spending and more taxation for a system that may not actually improve health-care quality and access.

And all of this at a time when the country is gripped by high unemployment and a deep economic recession. Maybe health-care reform seemed like a proper priority during the 2008 presidential campaign, but the public mood has changed dramatically since then.

The results of the special election in deep blue Massachusetts, preceded by Republican wins in New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races last year, are proof of the mood swing.

Scott Brown vowed to provide the deciding vote to deny Democrats their filibuster-proof majority on health care. Even so, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says “we will move forward” with the health-care legislation.

Well, that’s obviously going to be more difficult now. Some Democrats have been rattled, rightly recognizing that if a Republican can win in the Bay State, they can win anywhere. Defections are now more likely.

Two Democrats who had previously voted for the House health-care bill came out the day after Brown’s win saying the legislation should be broken up.

“I think that we would get a good policy out of a series of bills that were brought up over the next several months,” said Rep. William Delahunt, a Democrat from where else but Massachusetts.

That would be a wise change, of course. More modest, simple and straightforward steps aimed at real health reform might win the support of Republicans. We just hope this time around, the Democratic leadership will not try to buy votes for $100 million a pop. Then even the public might accept it.