Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bacasper]

More woes for BO.

I don't know much about his politics, but if he really wanted to shake things up, why not join the surging Paul/Kucinich/Grayson Libertarianesque clique?

Or why not keep the pulpit he has and use to advocate the radical change he urges here?

Disillusioned Bayh advocates electoral �shock� to broken system

In an interview on MSNBC this morning, newly retiring Sen. Evan Bayh declared the American political system "dysfunctional," riddled with "brain-dead partisanship" and permanent campaigning. Flatly denying any possibility that he'd seek the presidency or any other higher office, Bayh argued that the American people needed to deliver a "shock" to Congress by voting incumbents out en masse and replacing them with people interested in reforming the process and governing for the good of the people, rather than deep-pocketed special-interest groups.

Bayh's announcement stunned the American political world, as up until just last week he looked to be well on his way to an easy reelection for a third term in the Senate, and his senior staff was aggressively pursuing that goal.

But Bayh had apparently become increasingly frustrated in the Senate. In this morning's interview he noted that just two weeks ago, Republicans who had co-sponsored a bill with him to rein in the deficit turned around and voted against it for purely political reasons. He also stated repeatedly that members of his own party should be more willing to settle for a compromise rather than holding out for perfection.

"Sometimes half a loaf is better than none," Bayh insisted.

It's no secret that the Senate has struggled to take action this year. With the two major parties unusually far apart in their substantive proposals for the direction of the country, even finding half a loaf to agree on has been difficult. Though the Democrats have had a substantial majority in the Senate for the last year, Republicans have escalated their threats to use filibusters (by forcing a cloture vote, see the graph below) to force Democrats to come up with 60 votes to pass any major legislation. And after Scott Brown's election to the Senate last month gave Republicans a 41st seat, health-care reform and other Democratic goals were stopped dead in their tracks.

graph and more at link

[Ya-ta Boy]

I rather like James Fallows' take on this:

"Here's a constructive suggestion: Do you really care about the partisanship that is ruining public life and that, as you said, has driven you from the Senate, Mr. Bayh? Then why not use the fact that you are still in the U.S. Senate for most of another year -- a platform 99.999% of Americans will never occupy -- and apply all the power you can to advance causes you care about. What is holding you back?"

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/02/evan_bayh_why_the_no-class_mov.php

Ummm...What the heck is this supposed to mean? "I don't know much about his politics, but if he really wanted to shake things up, why not join the surging Paul/Kucinich/Grayson Libertarianesque clique?

Paul is a loony right winger, Kucinich is some sort of socialist (maybe, I pay zilch attention to him) and Grayson is a loose cannon with a lot of humor potential. They are all Libertariansesque? Is this another instance of libertarians redefining words to mean anything they want? You're probably not old enough to remember when political terms meant just what they were supposed to mean. I long for those days. These days, reading political stuff from the right is like reading 'Alice in Wonderland' while on LSD after staying up for a couple of nights studying for finals.

[bacasper]

[ontheway]

What is interesting about this story is what is not reported.

Bayh used a very partisan last minute political trick on choosing when to announce his decision.

Bayh announced just hours before the filing deadline for the Indiana state primary elections that he would not seek reelection. Since no candidate had filed to run against him, (and it appears that no one had time to meet the requirements in the few hours remaining following Bayh's announcement) and since Indiana has banned write in voting in primary elections, there will be no D candidate to vote for in the primary.

So, a small group of D party leaders get to meet later, in a tiny secret closed door cabal and choose anyone they wish after the May 4 primary.

This was very cleverly crafted. There were Democratic Party candidates considering running, waiting in the wings who could have made the filing deadline with just a day or two additional time. Bayh and the D leaders conspired to prevent them from seeking to enter a primary for an open seat.