by Sam Klug

I now have a former Cosmo model as my US Senator.

Was it a referendum on healthcare? Partially. On Obama? Probably.

Was it the candidate’s fault? The state’s? The administration’s? Yeah, sure, if it makes you feel better to dole out some blame, it was a little of everybody’s fault.

But basically, this race was just a version (condensed, over-spun, nastier) of the battle we have been fighting for what seems like forever. It wasn’t about terrorist trials in civilian courts, or about the public option, or about the candidates’ genders. Of course, it was about all that, at least a little bit, because all of those issues fall within the broader conflict that has dominated American politics for the past three decades at least: the conflict between a vision of America dominated by fear and intolerance and one of gradual movement toward a more just society; between a philosophy that says government can do no good (except for the super-rich, but shhhhh) and one that hopes to turn government into a vehicle for the achievement of at least a few of our ideals.

The other side in this conflict has consistently gotten the better of us for the past thirty years. For twenty-eight years, we had eight of Democratic rule. Now we have nine, and let’s just think about this last one – since the inauguration, we’ve gotten a watered down stimulus and a root canal of a debate about health care that has led even the compromise of the public option into the jaws of the right-wing, teabagging, “get the government out of my pockets” monster. That’s it. Basically, that’s the legacy of the first year of the Obama administration and the Democratic super-majority.

So, you might ask, did we even deserve to keep the seat? Would it even have helped our country to have 60 Dems instead of 59? I don’t know about the first question (it seems you only deserve something in politics by winning it), but the answer to the second is, frankly, yes. Because if the belief that government actually can lead our society to a more just existence has any purchase anymore, we have to understand that baby steps forward are still better than leaps backward; that every vote, no matter how spineless, counts; that every victory matters. These are the lessons that Ted Kennedy learned in the Senate, and if anything positive can come from tonight’s results, for Massachusetts and for the country, it is a better understanding of these truths.

So no, Scott Brown, tonight wasn’t historic. It wasn’t new. It was a reminder, once again, of the power of the simple messages that Republicans have been spouting for 30 years. It was just a little more painful this time.

Sorry, Teddy.