Massachusetts! Massachusetts!

Politics is called the "eternal sea" (I got that from the Omen series) in that the only constant with it is that it always changes.

One minute one party has the advantage, then another minute, the other does.

So this thing in Massachusetts was bound to happen in one form or another. And if you pardon me for saying so, I would rather have something like happen now than in November.

I like President Obama, but he needed a good shaking. I'm hoping that he and the rest of the Democrats learn from this early lesson. Think of it as a political form of A Christmas Carol where Scrooge learned that he should change before it's too late.

But DAMN, Brown's victory is going to drive me nuts.

The pundits spinning this is going to depress the hell out me. And worse of all, I just know the teabaggers are going happy crazy. I'm going to have to hear about this "Massachusetts Miracle" nonsense for longer than I can stand.

And the very thought that the folks at Fox News, particularly Glenn Beck, will probably be comparing Brown's victory to the Allies storming the beaches at Normandy is giving me stomach pains .

Lastly, I'm ducking as progressives put on the bandaleros and go all Pancho Villa on each other like we always do when faced with a loss.

But it helps to put it all in perspective.

Despite all that will be said, this situation boils down to one thing.

Martha Coakley did not deserve to win because she ran a crappy campaign.

I'm sorry but when you have an advantage like she did, you do not sit on your ass and let your opponent gain on you.

You don't win elections by making hideous missteps.

You take every campaign seriously and you define your opponent before he/she has a chance to define you.

It reminds me of a state election down here in South Carolina. The incumbent was a Republican representative (Rick Quinn) who had served in Legislature for a long time. He even had the name recognition of a prominent family.

But he took his opponent too lightly. His opponent went from door-to-door campaign while Quinn did virtually nothing.

I don't have to tell you who won.

So basically those of us who are progressives are going to have to follow the advice of Katherine Hepburn in The Lion In Winter and take our wormwood like good men and women (sue me already, I'm a gay man. It's required that I make movie references).

We lived through Reaganomics, the Republican Revolution, and eight years of Bush/Cheney.
This should be cocktail canape.

But Obama and the Democrats should take note. Scrooge learned his lesson. If they don't learn theirs, it's going to be a very cold November for them.

A sidebar (that will not be noted) is that the lgbt community should take a lesson from this loss in Massachusetts. It is all about defining your opponent before he/she has a chance to define you. And how many times have we allowed the religious right to define us and our struggle for equality because we will not put them on the defensive over their tactics.

It's something to think about.