Governor Deval Patrick showed great oratorical skill when delivering his state of the state address last week.
And for one shining moment on a cold winter night last week, everyone’s eyes were on the governor and the governor alone.
And for that moment, he owned the state, again.
But it is going to take more than a great speech nicely delivered to re-enlist Massachusetts voters to follow him into another term in the upcoming election battle.
Pitted against Republican Charlie Baker and Independent Tim Cahill – the state Treasurer – the voting demographic in a three-way race seemed to be in his favor.
However the Scott Brown victory has changed all that.
It is a brave new world for Republicans and Democrats following Brown’s extraordinary victory, which finds him the inheritor to the Senator Edward Kennedy seat as it used to be known.
In his speech, the governor mentioned East Boston, and a half dozen other major Massachusetts cities.
Again, it was a solid speech, although many mainline democrats treated it with disdain.
The governor and the others have a problem.
Voters are still angry.
This is problematic not only for Patrick, who is at the lowest point a governor can be at this time in popularity but for Baker and Cahill, too.
Patrick was here last Wednesday. He came to East Boston High School for a visit – and we thank him for coming and for mentioning East Boston in his address.
But he needs to do more to sway the feelings of voters feeling left out of government, feeling abused by government, feeling that government no longer delivers but exists to take away.
This is what Patrick faces and the others, too.
Voter disenchantment is everywhere and there seems to be no antidote.