There has been a lot of talk -- coming from both reporters and professional Democrats -- since Scott Brown's win in Massachusetts of President Obama and the Democrats pressing the "reset button."
There is no "reset" button.
Pressing the reset button suggests starting over. Democrats cannot start over; they must continue from where they are. They must figure out not what they should have been doing all along, but rather what they must do from here.
For example: Let's say you think they shouldn't have pursued health care last year. Ok, fine. But they did. They can't simply push a "reset" button now; they did what they did, and must proceed from here. That does not mean that they have to continue on the same course, or that they have to pass comprehensive health care reform (though I think they do.) What it means is that they have to keep in mind how their actions going forward will work given what they have already done, not in some fantasy world in which they are starting over via a reset button.
Politics isn't Super Mario Brothers. You can change course, but you don't get to hit a button and get a clean slate.
Unfortunately we have little choice in the people we send to Washington. Defensive voting rules and the winners have no intention of change. How do I get reelected and avoid having to work for a living?
Posted by: Rick Grossman | July 12, 2011 at 12:27 AM