For those who haven't been following Massachusetts politics, this young black kid that makes no bones about having a range that runs from a little to the left of liberal, supporting gay marriage, and healthcare and the environment, all the way to pro economic development area business opportunity investment policies in education and a few new ideas such as new markets tax credits and neighborhood synergy, announced he was running for Govenor and swept the caucuses 2:1 State wide and 9:1 in Middlesex county.
Deval Patrick spoke at Fanueil Hall today, where one of the national treasures this nation was created in found its ancient ballustered galleries packed to standing room only, and the overflow filling the Quincy Markets and the very diverse crowd had a March Madness energy.
As Deval spoke the standing ovations rolled in like heavy surf threatening at times to simply drown him out. The waves of applause left the crowd with their knees weak from jumping up and down and stomping their feet, it left their hands sore from clapping hard, and their voices horse from yelling loudly and with great enthusiasm.
The part of his message I really liked admitted that as the campaign went forward he would surely stumble and make mistakes and his opponents would just as surely capitalize on them.
Patrick said that its not just about getting elected to office but having enough pragmatism to get the job accomplished.
Sometimes to get the job done its necessary to get dirty. (New Markets Tax Credits for example, is heavily invested in by Bank America).
Sometimes politicians compromise and make deals that aren't always ideal, and get in bed with people who aren't always going to have the right motivations. We should be prepared for that too.
