More than a century ago, George Washington Plunkitt of the Tammany Hall political machine contemptuously declared, “Reformers are morning glories.” Politics was for professionals, he added. “You’ve got to be trained up to it, or you’re sure to fail.”
Here in Massachusetts, Plunkitt may be proven wrong. In an era bracketed by Governor Deval Patrick’s decisive reelection in 2010 and Elizabeth Warren’s grassroots triumph last November, reformers have become effective regulars. But there is still an undertow of the old political culture of “wait your turn” that would be familiar to Boss Plunkitt.
Comments
Thanks for this insightful and detail-filled article.
John Walsh as an enlightened advocate of the preliminary process…? For this to be true, the myth makers need to overlook the state’s democratic convention when the leadership muscled out any Warren challengers. The myth making continues with the omission that the national DNC heavily pressured the state machine to run Warren and to make sure they pulled out all the stops to ensure her win. As for Patrick, once again the myth makers glide past the David Axelrod connection and his use of the Patrick’s campaign as a test bed for the same themes later used for the Obama campaign.
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Whoever said "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" must have been thinking of Massachusetts.
Breaking News to Globe scribes: Scott Brown isn't running. You can read about it in the Herald.
Markey is a Hero but not a Rock Star? May we quote you on that?
By way of clarification, it is true that Markey's desk was placed in the hall. However, this action, I believe, was later revealed to be a practical joke by some of his colleagues. Fast Eddie Markey played it up as an actual exclusion. Cute by a half.
D=Donkey