The most shocking news from President’s Day did not come from your local furniture store’s crazy sales or the fact that I managed to forget twice that the Post Office was closed. In Indiana, Sen. Evan Bayh announced his retirement from Congress citing his disillusionment with the entire Congressional system. The timing of this announcement was strange. While he is up for re-election in 2010, his job was seen as safe. He led in polling over the leading Republican challenger by 20 points, and his popularity is polling 15 points higher than Obama in his own state. The son of a longtime liberal senator, his family legacy is rooted in national politics. So why the rush to retire?
I have always had a great deal of respect for Sen. Bayh, so I have no reason not to take Sen. Bayh at his own words:
For some time, I’ve had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is much too much partisanship and not enough progress, too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous national challenge, the people’s business is not getting done. Examples of this are legion but two recent ones will suffice.
Two weeks ago, the Senate voted down a bipartisan commission to deal with one of the greatest threats facing our nation: our exploding deficits and debt. The measure would have passed. But seven members who endorsed the idea, actually co-sponsored the legislation, instead voted no for short-term political reasons.
Just last week, a major piece of legislation to create new jobs — our nation’s top priority today — fell apart amidst complaints from both the left and the right.
All of this and much more has led me to believe that there are better ways to serve my fellow citizens, my beloved state and our nation than continued service in Congress. To put it into words I think most people can understand, I love working for the people of Indiana. I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives. But I do not love Congress.
I believe there is a lot of truth in his statement. Bayh is a centrist, which represents the will of the people well, but forces many clashes because he cannot be consistently counted as a reliable vote by either the left or right. In January, Bayh expressed his displeasure with what he has seen as a takeover by the far left of the Democrat Party. He is routinely hammered by the liberal blogs for his strong fiscal conservatism; to the point where the reaction on sites such as Daily Kos and Huffington Post has been “good riddance”. Nate Silver did a good job analyzing that the left really took Bayh for granted, and there are many far less liberal Democratic members of Congress. But to the right, he has been wrong on many social issues and older Republicans remember his father’s much more liberal voting record. I do think this constant hammering and ideological divide took its toll on the moderate Bayh. But still, he’s only 54…there must be more to it.
My decision was not motivated by political concern. Even in the current challenging political environment, I am confident in my prospects for reelection. Five times over the last 24 years, I have been honored by the people of Indiana with electoral success. But running for the sake of winning an election, just to remain in public office, is not good enough, and it has never been what has motivated me.
At this time, I simply believe that I can best contribute to society in another way: creating jobs by helping to grow a business, helping guide an institution of higher learning to educate our children, or helping run a worthy charitable or philanthropic endeavor.
Here is where I don’t quite believe he is telling the whole truth. While I don’t think he should have been concerned about his re-election especially since Mike Pence decided against running, I don’t think he has given up completely on his political dreams. He has never lost an election as a Governor or Senator, and while he probably would have won, I don’t think he wanted his name tarnished by the current Congress.
Some are speculating that he will run against President Obama in 2012. I don’t think 2012 will be his year because 1) It would be very tough to unseat Obama, 2) many would not support him for running against the incumbent President and 3) We learned in 2008 that a moderate member of the party has little chance to win their party’s nomination with the primary rules the Democrats currently use.
My expectation is that he takes an executive role that still keeps him in the national spotlight. It may or may not be political, but something that he can achieve some recognition for, while not being a part of the anti-establishment tidal wave drowning Washington. The next 6 years can give him time with his young sons to be a larger part of their life. I can see him making a run for the Presidency in 2016. He will be 60, can run off a strong independent platform when the nation’s pendulum will be swinging back, and people remember that he was a popular, never-defeated politician. Almost like the Democratic version of Mitt Romney.
Although I don’t agree with him on several social policies, Sen. Bayh is one of only a few Democratic politicians that I would seriously consider giving my vote. He is a stronger fiscal conservative than most Republicans, and in areas that I disagree, they are not strong objections that would keep me from trusting him. Although he announced his retirement, I do not believe this is the last we have heard from Evan Bayh.
Good evaluation. I think I agree with you about Bayh’s plan. It now appears that the reason he waited till the filing date to announce was so the Indiana Dem party could name a candidate as opposed to having perhaps a weak candidate emerge from the primary process.
Moe, I think your logic is backwards… He waited until one day left for filing to make it hard on the Democrats to find a candidate.
Ive heard it thought of both ways so far. It sounds like from the candidates I hear they are considering, it is for the most part Blue Dog Dems that are at par with or more right from Bayh. So it might be good for the state party but bad for the national party.
Do you mean he wanted a Republican to replace him?
I think this is just another rock crumbling out from under Obama’s foundation and majority. It pains me to listen to matthews, maddow and the like all hammering Bayh and making it sound like he is withering under the left’s displeasure for him.
I heard a sound bite from Katrina Vanden Heuvel saying
“this is a sign the country needs more help from the government. The conservative lie about the deficit is very misleading and complex.”
Still with everything crumbling around them you would think the Dems would stop bickering amongst each other and figure out something to pass for the sake of their party.
The Dem failure this year to get their agenda in place is one for the history books. I really don’t think there’s ever been a time when so many accomplished so little.
I was shocked with his announcement. I wonder if his ideas are more family based, money based, or sick of congress based. Obviously he was raised with money and isnt worried about that, to me hes in pretty good shape, only 54, and endless opportunities ahead of him. To think he was a possibility for VP, but instead we get smokin Joe.
Timmy, maybe the admin has finally got a clue and are going to move to the center, or at least pursue some common sense ideas… http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/business/energy-environment/17nukes.html?em
But then again it seems like this is more a ploy to help the union workers and somehow convince repubs to vote for an absurd Cap & Trade bill.
I like. 🙂
“To put it into words I think most people can understand, I love working for the people of Indiana. I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives. But I do not love Congress.”
It’s really a shame that congress/government is so broken that even people who’ve spent their whole lives trying to get in are rushing for the exit with parting shots like this.
Johnny did you hear his comments on him being able to create jobs, unlike the stimulus? Ouch.
Yeah I watched Olbermann’s first segment last night and they played that video. Haha… I think he’s decided, “Screw this, Im going down in a blaze of glory!”
“A Democrat has to show the toughness to govern. People don’t doubt that Republicans will be tough.” – Al From
Thought you might enjoy that quote. 🙂
Haha, thats good. Yeah, Ive got a laugh out of people sharing the narrative that Repubs are better at governing than Dems.
In a related note, MacGregor and I found this hilarious in its bias, essentially saying conservatives are happier than liberals because we dont care about inequalities or others…
http://www.livescience.com/health/080507-liberal-conservative.html