In sports and in politics, it’s better to be lucky than good
Bill Belichick. Ben Affleck. John Kerry. And now, the Immaculate Incompletion.
You wonder why America always resents Massachusetts?
We think we’re too good. The Patriots didn’t win that game against the Steelers so much as it was handed to us. A slight spin of the football in the opposing receiver’s hands and we turned from chokers into champs.
Now we all think we’re Super Bowl front-runners again.
The reality is the Patriots’ defense is still porous, the offense is wobbly without Rob Gronkowski, and we just got lucky.
But reality doesn’t seem to matter in Massachusetts.
Ben Affleck is a mediocre actor who struck it big with one break — “Good Will Hunting” — and parlayed that into playing Batman.
John Kerry is a presidential loser who still thinks he should be in the White House.
Every Massachusetts selectman, state rep and senator thinks he or she should be a congressman.
Then there’s Mitt Romney. He was a good governor who blew it halfway through his term by abandoning Massachusetts and traveling across the country to prepare for his presidential campaign. Then he lost the presidential race — twice — because he came across as rich and privileged.
But Mitt just won’t give it up. Now he has his sights set on a Utah Senate seat.
Coming up in 2020, we have at least three more pols — and probably way more — who seem to have White House ambitions. First, Elizabeth Warren. The senior senator and former Harvard Law professor was an awkward campaigner who never really explained why she counted herself as a Cherokee Indian in a law directory.
Yet, she became a national superstar by constantly talking about things being “rigged.” She’s beloved by every liberal from San Francisco to Nantucket. She beat Republican Scott Brown in 2012 because President Obama was on the ticket and Democratic turnout surged.
Now, Warren gets by with yelling at her opponents and making staged speeches on the Senate floor.
Her weaknesses will likely be exposed in a national campaign, but she’s still raising money from liberals across the country and is considered one of the front-runners for the 2020 Democratic nomination.
Next, take Deval Patrick. The former Massachusetts governor got re-elected and spent much of his time traveling around the world in high style on the taxpayer dime.
After he left the governor’s office, Deval cashed in and went to work for the supposed dark side — Bain Capital, the venture capital firm which Democrats once portrayed as Evil, Inc. Yet he’s still making noises like he wants to be treated as a national contender.
But there’s more!
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a North Shore Democrat, is building up his national profile by traveling to Iowa and pulling stunts like boycotting a moment of silence for gun violence victims. U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III is building his national profile and may be on a national ticket someday.
No, we have no shortage of self-esteem here in Massachusetts. We’re the best and you’re not.