The Fallout from the Brown Victory

Two huge stories have emerged in the fallout from Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts.

The first, and perhaps most important, is that President Obama has officially declared that he will seek a “pared-down” version of the healthcare bill. Apparently, Obama is viewing this election as a referendum on his healthcare reform project. It would be interesting to know how many calls he has gotten from Democratic senators who are facing tough reelection years ahead of them. If Ted Kennedy’s seat can go to a little known Republican in Massachusetts then anything is possible. This is surely making Democrats who rode the Obama wave into office in moderate parts of the country think twice about what they are supporting.

While surely not as widely discussed in the aftermath of yesterday’s election, but every bit as controversial, the Cap-and-Trade bill, which makes international commitments to create combat climate change in America, is seen as also now having to be shelved, or at least reworked. As John Kemp, a Reuters columnist said earlier today,

“If Democrats cannot hold even safe seats such as Massachusetts (which has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972), why should more vulnerable senators from states that would be hit hard by emissions controls, some of which are already starting to lean Republican, risk voting for yet another unpopular bill?” (Link to Article)

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