DevalWatch: We Made the Front Page of the Times!

We feel an illogical sense of pride when our local politicians are covered in the national media. It validates our process somehow. Not to get carried away, but maybe one of these years a Massachusetts leader will even run for President! Perchance to dream.

Governor Deval Patrick is the subject of a story in today's New York Times, which contrasts Patrick's growing mainstream profile as a Barack Obama friend, surrogate and rhetorical inspiration with his struggles to gain traction within our State House. Most of this will not be news to anyone with the faintest knowledge of Commonwealth politics (breaking story: Patrick and Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi have their differences.)

Regarding DiMasi's demolition of the casino bill, Patrick told the Times, "I don’t accept that we can’t get anything done because we lose one issue. Come on. People around here act like the only thing that happened last year was picking these drapes and buying a car. There’s a whole lot more."

Like what? In the piece, Patrick listed social spending increases, health insurance gains, and helping to defeat a proposed ban against gay marriage. Those are small victories, but, given the Democratic makeup of Beacon Hill, hardly the kind of transcendent change that Patrick's campaign pointed towards.

Being a friend of Obama's and not being Spitzer isn't enough to justify a political career. The country is watching and DiMasi is finding new problems every day (see here and here and here.) It's a good time for Patrick to take the offensive.