Lack of Leadership Leads to Bay State Loss

Massachusetts. Shock and Awe? No, more like "Oops! We dropped it."

Management guru Peter Drucker wrote, "Only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership." The Democrat's campaign to keep the cherished seat in the Bay State seems to have been a masterpiece of friction and confusion. And it certainly underperformed. Where was the leadership?

Given the importance of the Senate majority, National Democratic leadership should have had a stronger hand in the Massachusetts primary that selected Coakley as the candidate and in the management of her campaign. Scott Brown simply got out in front of the voters immediately after he was nominated, driving his truck around the state and likening himself to JFK. And he sure looks like a Senator. He had the airwaves to himself for weeks as Coakley and the Democrats seemed to be taking the process for granted. Oops.

It's time for the Democratic leadership to end the friction and confusion. It's been a remarkably fast turnaround from the big victories of 2008 to this defeat. The DNC and election committees need to work hard and quickly to define a clear and understandable statement of the current reality and their future vision to combat the Tea Party simplicities of the right. If they don't, November will be an even bigger "Oops."