Unremarkable Markey draws a challenger
When he saw yesterday’s headlines informing him he was going to be challenged for his U.S. Senate seat in the 2020 primaries, Ed Markey probably felt a lot like Willie Nelson: “It was the last thing I needed the first thing this morning.”
Yet there it was, announcing a lawyer with no political experience and not a campaign dollar to her name believes she could do a better job of representing Massachusetts than the 72-year-old incumbent whose biggest splash to date has been thumbing a ride on the AOC express, hoping the hysteria surrounding Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will elevate his standing, too. That says a lot about him. Edging out six rivals in a 1976 primary to succeed U.S. Rep. Torbert Macdonald, who died in office, Markey began a 36-year incumbency representing the 7th Congressional District.
It was like being in a witness protection program; he was safe from scrutiny. When you’re one of 435 House members it’s a lot easier to stay beneath the radar than it is when you’re one of your state’s two U.S. senators.
If he had only seen it for what it was, the Peter Principle, he’d have had a sinecure for life.
But ambition overcame him and he moved into the upper chamber six years ago, soon to discover what former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson often noted: The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain.
There are no free rides there, as Markey now knows.
Shannon Liss-Riordan’s plan to replace him says a lot about him and even more about us.
The fact an absolute nobody would presume to take him on reflects how little he’s done to distinguish himself. More than a nuisance, she ought to be an embarrassment to him.
But her race would also be a referendum on the electorate, revealing not how much we expect from a candidate, but how little we’re willing to accept. It would be nice to dismiss AOC as an aberration, an articulate fluke who went from tending bar in the Bronx to spreading havoc in Congress. Next to her, our own Ayanna Pressley is a veritable Golda Meir, having served on the Boston City Council.
Now Liss-Riordan’s candidacy causes us to wonder: Could AOC happen again?
It would seem to make no sense at all, except this is Massachusetts.
A female attorney who identifies with Liz Warren and detests Donald Trump, a tough cookie whose adversaries call her The Sledgehammer?
Start up the band. What more do we need to know?
Please. We need to know a lot more.