Professor backs Patrick

Brian Mickelson

Dr. Sandra Sandiford Young, associate director of the African and African Diaspora Studies Program at Boston College, has dedicated much of her career to issues concerning the many diverse communities in and around Boston. She recently sat down with the Banner to discuss Tuesday’s gubernatorial election, as well as the key issues facing Massachusetts with Deval Patrick at the helm.

“Deval Patrick’s greatest selling point is his tone of reason; that he is able to listen to all points of view, and to encourage people to talk reasonably to him about things,” Young said. “Patrick wants the systems in place to actually work, and to work the way they were intended to. I don’t think he has any illusions about what that will take. It’s kind of refreshing to have an ‘adult’ as a candidate for governor.”

Young refers to Patrick as an “adult” in comparison to the relative lack of “grown-up” decision-making in Beacon Hill over the past 16 years of Republican governorship, particularly the last four, in which it seems that issues like rising property tax rates and the failing economy have taken a backseat to the national GOP agenda. Romney has waged war against gay marriage, stem-cell research and abortion, rather than convincing the people of Massachusetts that something good will eventually come of the Big Dig, for example.

The same party politicking befell Patrick’s opponent, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, when she waged her negative ad campaign in the days leading up to the election, Young said.

“[President] Bush and the Republicans exploited Americans’ sense of unease by ratcheting up the terror level, and Healey’s campaign takes a page right out of the Republican handbook,” Young said. “She conducted this ridiculous scare campaign, asking if voters really wanted a man like Patrick [as their governor]. In reality, people don’t care who he defended as an attorney. People want to know what he’s going to do about their grandmother’s medicine, or how he’s going to ensure that police officers and metal detectors are not the only things promoting safety in public schools.”

Healey served her tenure as lieutenant governor in relative obscurity, which may be part of the reason she lost the election. For her part, Young initially found the prospect of a female candidate for governor intriguing.

“As a woman, I was excited at the idea that we would have a woman who would mount a really strong campaign, that maybe we would get two candidates that would talk about the issues that are important to women,” she said. “Unfortunately, you don’t get anything of substance from her, so she ends up portraying herself as a puffy-headed blonde. And I don’t believe that’s who she is. I don’t believe any woman could have gotten as far as she got and be quite so vapid. She should have stepped out on her own more often to give people a sense of who she is, rather than running the party line and allowing the party to direct the campaign.”

With Patrick now in the driver’s seat, Young said, Massachusetts residents should hope for a more intimate relationship with their governor.

“Deval’s ability to listen to people, to really listen, was his stock and trade as a businessman, but it’s also exactly what people feel they need at this place and time,” she said.