Washington D.C. insiders are beginning a last-minute push for Barack Obama to choose Senator Evan Bayh as his vice presidential running mate. Obama-Bayh 2008, they say. The reason: They want to send a clear signal that the new White House will remain in the pocket of the big corporations and right wing interest groups. They want the politics of power to win out over the politics of hope and change.
Evan Bayh is a Republican’s dream: Socially regressive, constitutionally repressive, pro-war and pro-corporate all the way.
Evan Bayh voted to help George W. Bush rush to invade Iraq. Bayh voted for Big Brother government spying with the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act. Bayh has often received among the most big corporate PAC contributions of any politician in the Senate. Bayh has served as chair of the Democratic Leadership Council, which has brought us right wing turncoats like Joseph Lieberman. Bayh has failed to support the closure of Guantanamo. Senator Bayh even voted to amend the Constitution to outlaw the burning of the American flag – as if flag burning is some kind of crisis that threatens the survival of the nation.
I will not claim that Evan Bayh is a purely awful politician – but is that the best that the Democrats can aim for in 2008, after 8 years of George W. Bush? A running mate who is mostly, but not purely, in line with the Republicans?
If selected, Evan Bayh will weaken the Obama campaign, not strengthen it.
Nader’s been sayin’ this all along.
I don’t think Obama will pick Bayh. It would just be political suicide.
He’s already alienated like half his base with the recent shift to the right, this would just be the nail in the coffin.
The fact this guy is even on the table is what’s blowing my mind. What can the Obama camp possibly be thinking?
Anyway FISA’s the reason I’m not voting Obama: http://tinyurl.com/5w9w9v
If he picks Bayh (highly unlikey) it’ll be all the more reason to vote third party.
Dude,
You are a liberal tool, and you’d probably vote for a dinner plate if it was associated with Hope and Change. Dinner Plate in ’08! Don’t vote for 4 more years of the same old Fork and Spoon policies. Gimme a break. Evan Bayh was an amazing governor, is a great Senator, and if not for term limits, he’d still be Indiana’s Governor. I can’t wait to vote for him for President, when given the chance.
Jeremy, how dare you? In the second sentence, you discussed Obama as a “Dinner Plate,” then in the third sentence you identify him with “forks” and “spoons.” This is highly inconsistent, since as everyone knows, china and cutlery are not the same. I’m not angry with you, you know. I’m just… disappointed.