A reflection that Kerry's (and Patrick's) response vs Brown's to the tornado reflects their view of

[karynnj]

the proper role of government.

Yesterday, I saw the response of Brown's team to negative comments on Brown at the Democratic convention was that Brown that morning was with the Salvation Army passing out food in the stricken area. I earlier had looked at both Kerry's and Brown's official websites. I found that Kerry's was very nicely set up with a list of shelters and numbers of people at them at the point it was written, a link to MA's emergency management, with a number to call if you need help, and a link for town workers to inform them of "the General Services Administration runs a special program giving your town a special dispensation to purchase products and services directly from the GSA schedule, often a very large price reduction." - with a link to the page on that. (http://kerry.senate.gov/work/issues/issue/?id=f40d68de-bb69-4427-b209-1be19a04bf35 ) I went to Brown's page ad saw that he had the same link to MA's emergency services, without the helpful phone number and then a long list of Red Cross numbers. To me, ignoring content, Kerry's page looked much much nicer and organized.)

Then, of course, there was both of their initial responses- well documented in the main thread.

My first reaction yesterday was to think "photo op" about Brown's delivering food and almost commented that in the Boston Globe. Then, held back by the fact that that just would look partisan ad not fact based, I thought to post that although commendable, Patrick's quick actions mobilizing the MA guard and other MA resources and John Kerry's coordination with Patrick in Framingham on Wednesday calling Napolitano and FEMA, which got federal teams to assess the damage there early the next day were far more significant helping people. Fortunately, I posted nothing because we needed to leave for a party. (The fact is that Kerry's time on Wednesday was far better spent than Brown's on Saturday - though it may be that Brown might get more political credit)

Fortunately, because it then dawned on me that, in fact, it might be that the differences are actually more important as they reflect the real difference in how these three men view the role of government.

Patrick as Governor was FAR more immediately involved and pro-active than Mitt Romney had been years ago when there were major floods when he was governor. The tornado was clearly worse, but that was the biggest, most comparable event from when Romney was Governor. I don't know where either Senator was when the tornado struck, but what is clear is that JK immediately did everything that a MA federal office holder should do - quickly and effectively. Both Patrick (ad may in his administration) and Kerry were then there for a press conference to inform and reassure the state that help was on the way.

Brown was there the next day, but some of us though his comments were off. Relistening to some of them, what comes through is that while he quickly spoke of intending to work with the rest of the Congressional delegation, he was more invested in his comments for people to contribute and help the volunteer organizations help people. (His comments also showed a lack of empathy, but that might be a reflection of his personality or some verbal awkwardness.) That he personally volunteered is likely genuine - it was similar circumstances that caused him to join the MA National Guard.

It may be that Brown's constant preference for small government leads to things like voting for budgets that cut government - including FEMA. His view, like GHWB's 1000 points of light, seems to see private charity as a major part of the solution in cases of disaster. This is NOT to say that Kerry (or Patrick) do not see a role for private charities - Kerry said often that it was charities that did most to help Katrina victims or that Brown sees no role for government - just that from their comments, actions, and websites, they are not in the same place if plotted on a line where strog government response is on one end and mostly private response was on the other.