The Effects of Events on Washington

There are two possible results from the Massachusetts senate race. On the one hand the Administration and the majority party could look at the results and say, we have heard the message and it might be a good idea, as Reagan did in the 1986 tax reform battles, to go back to figuring out how to get a bipartisan plan for improving our health system.

The alternative would be for the leadership to say "the voters have spoken, let's ignore them." They could propose all sorts of political games (some of which have been proposed already) - they could delay the final certification of the election - even though Brown's margin seems to be pretty large; they could rush a bill through by trying to jam a bill through the congress immediately (even though a large percentage of the voters think the plan is going in the wrong direction).

In the last six months, several administration spokespeople have argued that they inherited the mess and their inability to get things done on a number of fronts is based on the size of the problem. That can work for a while but not for a year.

This may be the prime point to figure out whether the administration does indeed have any audacity or merely arrogance. The definition of audacity includes boldness, courage and daring but it also includes negative connotations like insolence and impudence. It will be interesting to see whether this Administration can actually walk the walk.