A Big Win for the Tea Baggers

Well, there’s no way around it. Our Tea Bagger friends are cheering from Philadelphia to Phoenix, ecstatic in the victory of Republican Scott Brown in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts. Brown is the first Republican to be a senator from that state since 1972. As Jeff Bliss made clear on the show tonight, this race was one of the more historic elections of the decade.

Of course, the Democrats can come up with all sorts of excuses and finger pointing, but it doesn’t matter. They blew it. Again. Obama doesn’t have many chances left. What will happen now on health care? What will happen on the rest of the Obama agenda?
Should Barbara Boxer start worrying about Tom Campbell? Tonight’s election breaks off into so many interesting permutations.

But tonight, the Tea Baggers showed they were no-flash-in-the-pan. It’s a genuine populist movement, headed up by the likes of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. Conservatives would be foolish to count Obama out. 2012 is a long ways off. Clinton came back. Obama can, too. I would look for some kind of shake-up in the days to come.