Democrat Martha Coakley’s shocking loss to Republican Scott Brown in the race to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy  will shake up the domestic agendas of a number of Jewish groups – at least those that still have active domestic agendas.

With the Democrats now trembling before the specter of angry “tea partiers” and with midterm congressional elections coming up later this year, look for a hasty retreat on hot issues such as immigration reform – a top priority of a number of Jewish groups.

Health care reform is a big question mark. Polls show public doubts about their proposals are a big factor in the Democrats’ recent slide, so boasts by some Democratic leaders that they will continue to press forward with their watered-down plan despite the growing misgivings of some of their Democratic  colleagues may be just that – empty boasts.

Ira Forman, CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council, thinks the Dems will press ahead despite Tuesday’s shocking loss.

“As unfortunate as tonight’s loss by Martha Coakley was in the Massachusetts special election for the United States Senate, one fact remains clear: the push to fix our nation’s broken health care system must continue, and we must complete this critical task as quickly as possible,” he said in a statement. “Clear majorities agree — in Congress, among doctors, and among the American people. And within the organized Jewish community, there is a virtual consensus surrounding the need for urgent change.”

A lot of Jewish voters may, in fact, agree. But what’s pretty obvious is that with the exception of a small handful of groups, including the National Council of Jewish Women, the Reform movement and B’nai B’rith International, Jewish organizations have mostly opted out of the fight, at least on the broad legislative level.

The likeliest result as the Democrats look at a lost super-majority and squandered legislative opportunities: a continuation of the legislative stalemate of the past few years.  Serious financial and regulatory reform? Not likely. Dramatic environmental action? Not a chance.

Oh yes, and Middle East diplomacy: does anybody really think an administration that could lose its congressional majority in November and is besieged on a number of fronts is going to pick a fight with the pro-Israel lobby over new U.S. peace initiatives that are unlikely to go anyplace, anyway? Get real.

The Obama administration has some tough decisions to make.  It’s hard to avoid the conclusion the Coakley loss was a negative judgment on its actions, but the question is, why?

Are voters soured on Obama because he was too liberal, biting off too much on issues like health care? Or is his presidency in freefall because he was too cautious, too eager to compromise with people who had no interest in compromising with him?

You’ll here a lot of opinions about that in the next few days, but real answers will be hard to come by.

Not surprisingly, the Republican Jewish Coalition was crowing about Scott Brown’s victory, saying it  “sends the clear message that the electorate has serious concerns about the Obama administration’s health care proposals, its out of control spending, and the rising debt and deficits which are the fruits of its misguided agenda.”

On the other hand, Rabbi Michael Lerner, leader of the progressive Tikkun Community, offered a big “I told you so” to the Democrats.

“It is the Obama Administration, not the people who supported him in 2008, which moved to the Right–in the name of being  pragmatists or realists– in the process emptying their own agenda in regard to health care, environment, human rights, social and economic justice, and global peace of the critical elements that made those programs sound hopeful, and leaving many of their supporters feeling confused, disillusioned, and unable to rally around the politics that seemed so very far from ‘the change you can believe in’ that we had been promised,” Lerner wrote.  “Thousands of us saw this coming, and tried to warn Obama, but he wouldn’t listen.”