Brown and Obama: New Best Friends?

The conventional wisdom says that Senator Brown will be that 41st vote that mucks up the President's agenda. Maybe. But conventional wisdom is often wrong. Here's why I think it might be wrong in this case. Senator Brown and President Obama have a lot in common right now. The President desperately needs to show the nation that he can get things done; as a result, he will be willing to compromise and make more deals than before Brown was elected. And Scott Brown may be just the person with whom to make a deal. Brown needs to desperately show Massachusetts voters that he is not in lock-step with the national Republican Party and he is the true independent voice he claims. Brown's reelection will come very soon (less than three years) and he knows that when the current political tsunami subsides, Massachusetts voters are still generally a very liberal lot and will not tolerate a Senator who follows the national Republican party line.  Given these political realties for both Senator Brown and President Obama (realities which will trump ideology every day of the week), don't be surprised if the agenda Brown ends up mucking up is not that of the President, but the national Republican party.