Super Tuesday in Massachusetts Just Business as Usual

Impact
ByAllan-Michael Brown

In Boston, the heart of New England, Super Tuesday doesn’t necessarily have anything “super” about it. 

People are off to work, forming lines not to the voting booths, but to their local coffee shops for their daily pick-me-up. There aren’t any signs everywhere reminding us to vote. There aren’t volunteers with Mitt Romney buttons or Newt Gingrich signs depicting him with devil horns. There aren’t any posters showing Santorum in his frumpy sweater vests or even a passerby asking, “Who is Ron Paul?” Really, it’s business as usual in Boston. 

Could this political apathy on perhaps the most momentous day in the presidential race thus far be due to the fact that Republican candidates are, well — too Republican? Not necessarily. Boston notoriously has a political climate that is undoubtedly more on the liberal side. However, back when Martha Coakley was vying for the vacant Senate seat left behind by Kennedy, there was more noise for Scott Brown despite Obama’s embarrassing endorsement of Coakley. Brown, a Republican ultimately won the seat, which reminded everyone of Massachusetts’ unpredictable political fervor.

Yet Super Tuesday has prompted no political zest, particularly because of Romney. During his term as governor, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage, and the Massachusetts health care reform helped millions get access to health care. Yet, as he parades around the country denouncing gay marriage and explaining that Massachusetts health care reform shouldn’t be the national model (despite exclaiming that it should the week it was passed), we Bostonians, are disillusioned with Romney. We can’t rally around him because he hasn’t rallied around us, or what he accomplished in Massachusetts. His hypocrisy makes us skeptical of all the candidates (with the exception of Ron Paul who walks the walk and talks the talk but no one is watching). So what can be said of the candidates on Super Tuesday, “See you next Tuesday.”

Photo Credit: myjon