Change and challenges
IT WAS a week of change in Massachusetts unlike any we've seen in a generation.
Out went the old, and in came the new, as Mitt Romney exited to pursue his conservative presidential dreams and Deval Patrick entered to launch a new experiment with liberal governance.
Romney leaves as a disappointing figure, a chief executive whom the siren song of national ambitions kept from ever realizing his true potential.
Patrick arrives as the embodiment of progressive hopes, but with an undercurrent of questions about how he will govern.
He made more of his race yesterday than he did on the campaign trail -- and certainly the symbolic significance of Massachusetts having elected an African-American governor is heartening.
In an inaugural address long on inspiration, Patrick outlined the problems he wants to tackle: high housing and college costs, drug addiction, poor schools, broken roads and bridges, soaring health care expenses, rising property taxes, and violence in the streets.
He spoke in broad terms about what he hopes to effectuate: a world-class workforce, an improved business climate, schools that better serve poor kids, early education and after-school programs, first-rate public colleges, affordable health care, and safer neighborhoods.
"It's time for a change," he told the thousands of supporters gathered for the ceremony in front of the State House. "And we are that change."
At an abstract level, it's hard to quibble with the new governor's priorities. The disagreement, of course, will lie in the details -- matters Patrick left for another day.
One obvious question, however, is whether he will have the resources to be the kind of chief executive he'd like to be.
"Certainly next year's budget is going to be more of a grinch document than an expansion budget," says Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
There are also questions about his governing skills. This week, in his first legislative foray, Patrick struck an unfortunate tone. For those who understand the importance of a fair constitutional process, it was discouraging to hear him essentially urge legislators to ignore a new Supreme Judicial Court opinion and kill an anti-gay marriage amendment through parliamentary tactics if necessary.
Fortunately, the Legislature thought better of his advice and brought the amendment to a vote -- a vote that should demonstrate that the measure can be beaten in the upcoming session without resorting to legislative gamesmanship.
As Senator Stan Rosenberg notes, back in 2004, same-sex marriage could claim only about 55 legislative allies. But on Tuesday, 134 lawmakers opposed an anti-gay marriage amendment, with just 62 voting for it. Since the anti-gay marriage tally is expected to shrink by seven with the new Legislature, that leaves only a handful of votes to switch to deny the amendment the 50 votes it needs to move forward.
"I believe it is very possible," Speaker Sal DiMasi told me. It's certainly worth a concerted effort to win a legitimate victory, and Patrick should make that kind of outcome his cause.
As for the man who departed Wednesday, it's easier to pass an elephant through the eye of a needle than it is to remain popular in Massachusetts while plotting a run for president as a conservative Republican -- and Romney has been doing just that since mid-2004.
Credit where it's due. When disaster called for executive action, Romney was in his element. And when he occasionally rolled up his sleeves, as he did on health care, he was able to get important things done.
Still, as a businessman turned governor, he proved mostly a political-adventure capitalist. He took over the state, addressed an immediate problem or two, but then, faced with knottier issues, contented himself with putting a spit shine on the enterprise and trying to peddle it for political gain. In that way, his lone walk, replete with a series of stops designed to highlight his achievements but which reminded one of the stations of the gubernatorial ego, was emblematic of his public-relations approach to governing.
Meanwhile, his transformation from moderate to conservative leaves the impression of a man with principles malleable enough to be molded to any mood or moment. Not even his own party members seem particularly sad to see him go.
So change has come.
As they posed for photographers on Wednesday evening, Romney told his successor, "We are looking forward to a great administration."
"Count on it," Patrick replied.
Let's hope the new governor's self-confidence is justified.
Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com. 
