We The People

Politicians have certain protocols to follow if they are seeking election. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley thought these protocols did not apply to her when she ran for the U.S. Senate seat formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy. In a weird way, I can see why.

Coakley, a Democrat, was (1) running in the bluest of states and (2) was running to fill a seat held by a Kennedy (a family which is as traditionally Democrat as they come). Her election into the U.S. Senate should have been a slam-dunk, to say the least. These conditions probably gave Coakley an invincible feeling, so much so that she became her own worst enemy by operating her campaign as though her election were a "sure-thing".

Coakley didn't learn from the mistakes of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She didn't learn that in order to be elected, you actually have to be likable. She publicly stated she had no interest in shaking the hands of Massachusetts's voters "outside in the cold, in front of Fenway Park". There was a photo distributed of her helping a man who had fallen down near her. She was demonized as a politician who lacked sympathy for her fellow man.

But her biggest gaffe came when she referred to Curt "Bloody Sock" Shilling as a Yankees fan. Running for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts and implicated one of the Boston Red Sox's most beloved pitchers, a pitcher who helped lead the team to their first world series championship and ending an 86 year drought of being a fan of their arch rival and most hated nemesis. When I heard this sound bite, I knew whoever this candidate, whoever she was and whichever party she was affiliated with, was dead in the water.

Coakley showed her electorate that she is out of touch with the people of Massachusetts and by no means a humanist. Was it really a surprise that she lost this election? That Ted Kennedy's seat in Congress has been relinquished to the opposing political party and Hell hath frozen over?

For those readers who believe this election was another referendum on President Obama, I cannot completely consider it so. Coakley committed too many gaffes to solely contribute this historic change to the policies and agenda of our current President. But it does demonstrate one important trend in America;

"We the people" are beginning to become mobilized and involved in politics again. "We the people" are growing weary of the career politician who is more concerned about special interests than those of the people he or she represents. "We the people" are educated. "We the people" are making our voices heard. "We the people" are reminding our elected officials they work for us and they serve as we see fit.

Senator Scott Brown understood this. He told the people, his seat was not that of Ted Kennedy, but it was "the people's seat". More and more Americans are beginning to realize that every seat belongs to US; to the populous that makes up the United States.

This is a very proud time for us as Americans. More individuals are becoming involved in politics, more people are registering to vote, more people are actually voting, and incumbent politicians (and all politicians) are realizing they are held accountable for their actions. We are seeing a trend in American politics that I have always wished to see; the demise of the politics of apathy. And if this trend can be attributed to the election of President Obama, then this may be the only "change" I can stand to support.