Brown, the smart pick

If Republicans are smart they’ll pick Scott Brown, the new senator from Massachusetts, to give the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Jan. 27. Brown’s upset victory this week in a special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat probably is the most electrifying political event since Obama’s triumph in 2008. Brown ran a brilliant campaign, tapping into broad unrest in the country over Obama’s health care proposals, the administration’s perceived arrogance in pushing them, spending and other issues. Independents carried him to victory, and the GOP needs to capitalize on his connection with non-ideological voters. Some Republicans will grouse that he’s not conservative enough in some area or another, but he’s lightning in a bottle, with Sarah Palin-like charisma. Last year Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal responded to Obama’s message to Congress and came up small. In Scott Brown, Republicans have a chance to steal the evening. To borrow one of Brown’s campaign slogans, the GOP needs to “gas up the truck” and unleash their newest senator on the country.

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