WASHINGTON, D.C. — An unusual cold snap hit throughout most of the nation the week of January 17. California had rain and mudslides, turbulent storm clouds were over much of the Eastern Seaboard, bitter cold in the Midwest, and there was a special election in Massachusetts for the U.S. Senate seat previously occupied by the late Edward M. Kennedy.

The national political climate changed, too.

Prior to the Massachusetts contest, Congress seemed on the way to reconciling and passing historic health care legislation. Banking reforms and the possibility of comprehensive immigration were on tap — all under an overlay of jobs, jobs, jobs.

When Democratic candidate Martha Coakley’s polling numbers slumped drastically, President Obama went to Massachusetts to campaign for her. That’s when the air started coming out of the reform balloon.

Just like the financial bust precipitated the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t dilemma, going forward now in any reasonable direction is political quicksand.

In the Southwest, the phenomenon is known as a sidewinder. Mariners, novel-readers and moviegoers know it as a “perfect storm.” By whatever name, it is a reversal of fortune and the course that had seemed so fine-tuned, so pitch perfect before, is now a vulnerability.

When Scott Brown trounced Coakley, his victory came like a surprise political aftershock from Haiti, even though days before, polling suggested a likely upset. Irish bookie Paddy Power paid off bets early on Brown. The 538 Senate Forecasting Model, which correctly predicted all 35 Senate races in 2008, called Brown a 3-to-1 favorite.

 The day following the special election was put in the context of a pattern after the November GOP gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia. Good policy folds under the weight of bad-temper politics.

For instance, Chris Matthews, on his MSNBC program Hardball, berated former Democratic chairman Howard Dean’s interpretation of the Massachusetts outcome. Mathews’ questioning centered on ideology and how politics is the art of war played out as Machiavellian maneuvers. Dean argued that voters were registering a protest to the Democratic establishment they had endorsed in November 2009 for selling out to special interests, that shows up as flaws in the Byzantine health care bill.

Alas, Matthews, the interviewer, said to Dean, “You’re whistling past the graveyard.” Then he added, “I think you’re being silly.” To which Dean responded, “No, you’re being silly.”

The silliness is about a serious matter, however, with far reaching consequences in light of the fact that a split U.S. Supreme Court decision, with Judge Sonia Sotomayor voting with the minority, ruled that corporations and unions are really “individuals” when it comes to First Amendment rights, and they can now spend what they wish on candidates and campaigns.

That led progressive writer Robert Lovato to declare before an audience on Jan.  22 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., that he believes in the death penalty. And if there is any wrongdoing by those corporations and unions they should be subject to the same penalties as individuals.

Lovato was part of a freewheeling webcast panel looking for a public-policy forecast for Latinos and Hispanic communities, brought together by the Philadelphia newspaper Al Día. (For reasons of full disclosure, I was a panelist.). The atmosphere turned gloomy when the subject switched to comprehensive immigration reform. Although advocates are issuing reassuring press releases, in the corridors many sources are confessing the outlook, in this climate, looks grim.

Never mind the avalanche of new analyses showing how and why an enlightened immigration policy is good for the nation, economic development and peaceable communities. Politics trumps policy, as Brown and Coakley and Matthews and Dean demonstrate. Everyone’s best interests aren’t supported when everybody is mad as hell, and they say they are not going to take it anymore.

That is the weather report during this winter of our discontent. But Feb. 2 is coming up, when Punxsutawney Phil will prognosticate on Ground Hog Day whether we will have six more weeks of winter or a welcomed, much needed, early spring.

The good news, and reason to not despair, is that the Punxsutawney Chamber is planning a pancake breakfast that day, with photo opportunities with Phil, the groundhog, related games and — I swear — a piñata.

   [José de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service and is author of The Rise of Hispanic Political Power (2003). His latest digital book, sponsored by The Ford Foundation, is available free at www.DayNightLifeDeathHope.com. E-mail him at [email protected].]