One thing should be true regarding Senator Evan Bayh's leaving the Senate: He can now vote his conscious without having to worry about what the people back home think about him. If he really is for healthcare reform, he'll vote for it. He may even vote for the Public Option in reconciliation procedures so the Republicans can't filibuster it. He could vote for another jobs stimulus bill for jobs in Indiana, too. But, for the past year he's been a Blue Dog Democrat and voting more Republican than Democrat against any real change that might help the American people and his fellow Indiana citizens. His latest remarks doesn't indicate he's changed that much.
Brother Dan has money on him coming back as “something,” maybe President. I'm not so sure. He made the short list and was passed over for Vice President twice, once under Clinton and once under Obama. My money is on him doing what Dan Coats did. Getting a cushy Ambassadorship job for a while and then becoming a lobbyist for big money. The $13 million he has in his campaign war chest didn't come from Indiana citizens. It came from big corporate sponsors and rich Political Action Committees, mostly lobbying him for his Republican vote. He knows the ropes and all the big players in Foggy Bottom (Washington D. C.), i.e., those who can cut through the fog to buy congressional votes that screw the American people. It's more like Smoggy Bottom, if you ask me, where Senators like Ben Nelson and Max Baucus cut dirty-air deals that stink of foul odors.
I wouldn't be surprised if Republican and corporate interests didn't cut a deal with Bayh, a dark backroom big money offer he couldn't refuse, that convinced him to quit so Dan Coats would be a shoo-in. Dan Coats is the last person I'd pick for Bayh's Senate seat. Indiana really needs an honest Senator who will really be for the people. But, I don't see one.
Bayh got on all of the popular trains as Senator, such as spouting off about The Bridge to Nowhere that would have connected the community of Ketchikan to its airport, created a thousand or more steady jobs immediately and allowed the community to safely travel to and to build businesses in and around its airport for economic growth. Buyh got on the Sarah Palin Train against the bridge. He didn't know the facts and he didn't care about the facts. If he really was “for people,” he would have been “for” the bridge. On the flip side of that coin, he managed to get plenty of earmarks, both deserved and not, for his state that he was silent about while complaining about “other” senators' earmarks.
It could be that Bayh simply has pangs of conscious about being a hypocrite and wants to stop. But, I doubt it. I think he'll be back, but he'll be making a lot more money than the President does as a lobbyist in the backroom, just like Dan Coats was.
Indiana voters are no different than those in other states. We are all misinformed and gullible about candidates for public office and we have no idea how an official will perform once they're elected. It would be nice to get an honest Senator, but Dan Coats will not be that, as Evan Bayh wasn't. Coats is not going to give up his lobby contacts and their money after he's elected. They've given him, and will continue to give him, all he wants and he'll return the favor.
Dave
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