Counting Chickens too soon

When Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts defeated Democrat Martha Coakley, a presumed shoe-in for Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat, there was much glee among the GOP that the newly-minted Senator Brown would provide the filibuster-proof incremental Senate vote required to prevent President Barack Obama from passing his health care bill.

Democrats were downcast and Republicans were jubilant.

In this blog, on January 19th (check the archives) I wrote: “Logically, this defeat should shock Mr. Obama into workable bi-partisanship. But don’t bet the farm on it: He and his chief advisors can be expected to hunker down even more now, and to railroad the legislation through the Congress.  Hope I’m wrong about that.”

It looks as though I may not have been far off the mark. Earlier today, President Barack Obama was on the stump in Ohio, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi claimed to have the necessary votes required to pass the legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives this week.

Somebody is counting chickens too soon, and we won’t know who won until a few necks have been twisted and the meat is served up on the table for dinner.

As my Mom was always wont to remind me with one of her many aphorisms of advice, “There is more than one way to skin a cat.” (Cat lovers: Don’t be offended, it was an innocent time for me in my Bay State hometown way back when.)