Last week a $15 billion job-creation bill passed the U.S. Senate despite the Democrats’ recent loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat and their filibuster-proof supermajority.
How did they do it?
Surprisingly, the bill passed with a little help from Republican friends.
Five Republican senators voted to break a filibuster on the bill, including wet-eared Scott Brown, the fresh-faced trucker who came out of nowhere to beat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts’ special election in January.
It doesn’t matter who the other four were, because Scott Brown’s vote is the first of many that may help ascend him to the presidency.
Brown probably riled some of his Republican colleagues and irked the more conservative voters, but his vote was a stroke of genius political posturing.
“I came to Washington to be an independent voice, to put politics aside,” Brown said in a statement after his vote. “This Senate jobs bill is not perfect … but I will vote for it because it contains measures that will help put people back to work.”
Man, that guy sounds like someone worth voting for.
Brown portrayed himself as a noble politician who actually cares about bringing Americans jobs while simultaneously showing that he is willing and able to compromise. Brown is also — to borrow an Obama phrase — adding to his body of work of charming sound bites.
There was the time he referred to Kennedy’s vacated Senate seat as “the people’s seat” and the time he plainly said, “I’m Scott Brown. I’m from Wrentham. I drive a truck.”
His words are refreshing music to the ears of a dismayed voting public tired of being subjected to President Barack Obama’s soaring, overwrought rhetoric while nothing gets done in Washington.
Brown usurped the seat formerly occupied by the liberal lion of the Senate less than two months ago, but already looks more like presidential material than blessed Teddy ever did, even pre-car crash.
He’s young(-ish), has a winning smile, is viewed as an outsider and, perhaps most importantly, is untarnished, except for that whole appearing nude in Cosmo thing. He’s not a woman, though, so it’s not like anyone’s going to hold that against him.
Frankly, Brown is to many Republicans what Obama used to be to Democrats, and possesses many of the same qualities that may allow him a meteoric rise within his party and in the national scene.
But is Brown really prepping himself for the nation’s highest office already? Maybe not, but that hasn’t stopped enthusiastic supporters from talking about it and purchasing Web domain names like scottbrown2012.com and scottbrown4president.com. Obama, after all, had presidential boosters long before he decided to run.
He’s been described as a “liberal Republican” and balances his Northeastern roots with the same downtrodden folksy charm that made George W. Bush appealing to so many Americans.
Obama found momentum in his campaign by convincing the electorate that we could change things through him. Better than change, however, is trust — and Brown’s already convinced many he’s deserving of it.
Dustin hopes you trust him. Reach him at dustin.volz@asu.edu
