Why didn't Deval Patrick get more attention?

Barack Obama is the nation's only Black U.S. Senator.

Deval Patrick is the nation's only Black U.S. Governor.

Why is it that the former, even before he was running for president, gets so much more attention than the latter? And this isn't a smear against Obama; I think in his case a lot of the hype really is justified. I just wonder why Deval Patrick didn't get more attention when he was elected last fall.

I have some theories and it's probably a combination of these factors.

1) He's a governor - the political press corps largely focuses on Washington with a few exceptions like Schwarzenegger. Given that Obama is a Senator, his profile in the national press is bound to be higher.

2) Obama's convention speech made him a star; had it not been for the speech, he would have likely still been a very prominent figure, but not as big as he is now.

Any other ideas? Remember even Harold Ford got more press than Patrick did last fall. Of course, though many DU'ers didn't like him much, Ford's win would have been in many ways more revolutionary, as it would have been a Black man being elected in a former confederate state.

As a MA resident and denizen of one of its most blighted communities (Springfield) I am taking a wait and see attitude on Deval. I think he is a brilliant speaker and obviously connected with the people at large. What remains to be seen is if he can govern. MA has some deep seated problems including disparity of income, out-of-sight property values and taxes, and the fact that we are losing population (most of it young professionals). The middle class is shrinking and we are getting a situation with millionaires at the top and the poor at the bottom and a hard-pressed over-taxed middle class taking up the slack. I am waiting to see what concrete steps he will take to bring back manufacturing, financial center, and high-technology. Wish him the best.

And what Gov Patrick has to deal with in his term as Gov. So far, he hasn't done anything. This inaction has allowed petty things to dominate the news on him and it is creating an image of a tin-eared guy who is allowing his image to be dominated by ridiculously expensive car leases, exorbitant bills for office furniture and new office drapes and the Commonwealth paying for an Executive Secretary to schedule appointments for Mrs. Patrick. I am not impressed with Deval Patrick yet.

He has only been Gov for 7 weeks. He needs time to grow into the position and the new budget he unveils next week will show where his priorities are and how many of his campaign promises he can keep. But he is not off to a good start, IMHO. He looks self-indulgent and awkward at this point and politically naive. Who is advising the new Governor? Whoever it is is not helping.

There are unforgivable political sins in Massachusetts. One of the worst is 'giving yourself airs' and acting as if you are entitled to feed at the public trough. This sin has ensnared lots of Mass pols and led to their downfall. It could lead to Gov. Patrick's unless he smartens up quickly. This is not a race issue, this issue has plagued Kennedy's, plagued John Kerry in varying degrees and other pols. Being seen as self-indulgent is a major sin for all pols. Unless you like being viewed as a Tom Finneran clone.

I was a delegate for Deval last year and a co-chair in my town for his campaign. If I am upset, then the Gov had better get off the dime and correct his act.

The other thing I forgot to say comparing Deval with Obama is that as governor Deval will create a record of success or failure, which is measurable. This is why governors get a "premium" in presidential races and so often succeed if they can convince the public, that their policies in-state led to positive results and can be applied on a national scale. Senators, like Obama, can do a lot of posturing and hide or get lost in the "club" of the Senate. He would get more respect from me if he initiates and gets bold and constructive legislation passed, however for a junior senator this is a difficult task.

For just the reasons that you mentioned. I am not yet that impressed with Sen. Obama. He did not do that much during his first two years in the Senate. I know that this was a Republican-controlled chamber in the 109th Congress, but I did not see Sen. Obama 'fighting the good fight' on a lot of things that went on. He complained about the Alito filibuster and he openly criticized the Kerry/Feingold Amendment this past June that called for a withdrawal from Iraq according to a timetable. (That is in his public remarks that he made on the floor of the Senate on June 21, 2006.)

I am glad that Sen. Obama has a bill in the Senate that endorses some action to get out of Iraq. I just wish he had done this earlier, instead of waiting until after his Presidential ambitions came to the fore, to push for a withdrawal. He is a very cautious politician. I don't find him all that inspiring and I don't think he has a real platform that is formed from his core beliefs yet.
He is still very much a cypher.

(Sigh! This is one of the reasons I have no favorite for 2008. I have problems with just about everyone running, most based on sincerity of efforts. I will just have to wait and see who grows with the process and see if these folks get any better during the long Presidential Primary marathon.)

for, like, about a month now.

Plus he is buying furniture for the office out of his own pocket ($27,000).

The man is a class act! :-)

It was a great speech, and since Obama was so young, it tagged him as a rising star.

I think Patrick got a decent amount of attention, but I'm also in neighboring CT. I thought it got more attention than any other governor's race, but none really garnered a lot.

:hide:

:shrug:

I fully expect Patrick to be involved in the campaigns though,and see him getting a lot more attention.

I think he got quite a bit of exposure considering it was just a Gov campaign,and hence doesn't really affect those in other states.I certainly see him appealing to the moderates in the party a lot.And like Obama,he's very well-spoken,hard to trap with "gotcha" type questions,and has a lot of charisma.We'll see more of him in the years to come.

:spank:

the people of Mass. have largely gotten past race as a defining factor ? and recognize it does no good to dwell on moot issues?-- Deaval is Gov. so lets see how he governs and not what color he is. ( Hey, I'm Black and live in California w/ no false illusions about the racial climate in America, but I'm glad not to hear about the day to day scrutiny of an American Governor who just happens to be Black.)

the racist ads and how that became a national controversy. other than that it wasn't much. but i think Ford deserved attention just for how close that race was considering it was the very conservative Tennessee and Ford being black and Dem. without the racist ads i think he would have won. but the racist ads brought out the bigots in the end which made a slight difference in favor of the Republican.

you are right about why Obama got the attention that Patrick didn't. but at the very least i think they should have reported more on the fact that there is a black Gov in the country. i don't expect them to play up Patrick as much as Obama at this point but just that one fact itself should be something.

they whored big time for Michael Steele though. they had a hard time admitting he lost the Senate race also.

Not in looks, but rather in the way he makes me feel when he speaks. Listening to him you actuallu believe that as a community there is hope and that together anything is possible. The first time I heard him speak I thought "that man will be president someday". I don't want him to run though, because right now we need him right here in Mass.

not a lot of puffy words. I voted for him, defended him but I am not happy about the leased car and the office redecoration, originally at taxpayer's expense.