No, NO, HELL NO!

A year to the day after occupying the White House Democrats awoke to the aftermath of a historic political earthquake as “TAXACHUSETTS”, the bluest of blue states, elected a Republican Senator for the first time since 1972. In the third repudiation in as many months Obama’s policies and practices were soundly  rejected and the seat held by Ted Kennedy for nearly half a century is now in the hands of a stalwart conservative, Scott Brown campaigned against Obamacare, deficit spending, un and underemployment, and mollycoddling of terrorists. The defeat means Democrats no longer have the 60^th vote to stop a legislation killing filibuster. Brown won decisively 52% to 47% and Coakley quickly conceded.

Even before the results are final there is virtually a stampede away from Obama’s agenda sending ripples through the nation for instance:

·         Senator Webb (D) Va. demanded a slowdown saying no more votes should be taken on healthcare until Brown is seated. There has been talk of a political fight to delay Brown’s seating.

·         Democrats fearing their own political futures in the 2010 elections are demanding moderation and an end to secret talks on Obamacare.

·         It’s unclear how much the impending defeat impacted Erroll Southers, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration, to withdrawn his name from consideration. He was opposed because of a belief he would unionize TSA workers and because he lied on his application.

Hubris kicked in as the so often belligerent White House senior adviser David Axelrod urged Obama to order full speed ahead. Obama’s former campaign manager, David Plouffe, added on Wednesday’s “Good Morning America”: “I’m very confident we can pass health-care reform.” Democratic leaders insisted they planned to press ahead with health reform, and met late into Tuesday night in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. But they made no decisions about how to proceed.

The Drudge Report headlined a photo of Brown in his 200,000 miles pickup truck asking “Will he run for President?”

A few are speculated that Republicans could switch the more than 40 seats to take majority in the House, and kick out the unlikable Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) San Francisco.

It wasn’t clear Tuesday night how Democrats could now pass Obamacare, or how hard the White House is prepared to push. A statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announcing that President Barack Obama called Coakley and Brown made no mention of health reform.

Their options are few, and extremely complex, mostly involving legislative tactics that would be difficult to pull off in the best of circumstances, let alone at a time when members are worried they could be the next Martha Coakley – a seeming Democratic shoo-in laid low, in large part, by health reform.