Jumping on the Brown Bandwagon

Tim Pawlenty and every other 2012 and 2010 candidate will try to get in front of the Scott Brown parade, but it seems that Pawlenty may have missed what the parade is about.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Sm4ROKgus

On Tim Pawlenty’s Freedom First PAC homepage you’ll find first a banner congratulating Scott Brown on his momentous win last night.  It then fades into a second banner that encourages you to sign a petition for a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.  T-Paw and every other 2012 and 2010 candidate will try to get in front of the Scott Brown parade, but it seems that Pawlenty may have missed what the parade is about.

Brown won because he was able to touch upon independent and Republican distaste for Obama’s healthcare reform, and show that Democrats were already out of touch with the national mood on issues like stimulus spending and bailouts.  But Pawlenty’s response to Brown’s victory is something like this:  “Great job Brown you proved that America doesn’t want an expansive and meddlesome central government… now let’s change the Constitution!”

Wait, what?  If Brown is capitalizing on America’s, even deep blue state America’s, distrust of government playing too heavy a hand, what logic connects that success with amending the Constitution for a balanced budget– which would send shockwaves through the economy and potentially relegate the toughest budgeting decisions to the Supreme Court.  America needs reform, the GOP must champion it, but it can’t look like this.  If Pawlenty wants to jump in front of the parade, it might pay to first think about how it got moving.