UPDATE: From Ambinder we learn that Bayh thought Obama was too beholden to liberals!
Bayh is an anomaly of sorts; he really grew to dislike the influence of liberal activists on his Senate colleagues. To him, these activists increased the cost of doing business. Reaching out to the other side became more risky than rallying around an ideological pole, even though that rallying around contributed to stasis. When it became clear to Bayh that the White House wasn't going to play his game -- wasn't going to sell out liberals at every turn -- Bayh decided he had had enough.I'm with Atrios:
If Ambinder knows what he was talking about, Bayh wanted Obama to support a Senate coalition of Republicans and centrist Democrats. You know, the same thing we had for the past several really awesome years of policymaking. You also get the sense that, as is usually the case, there isn't really much policy substance here, it's all about the joys of hippie punching.CNN:
"He hates the Senate, hates the left bloggers," a friend and longtime adviser to Bayh said. "They are getting their wish, pure Democrats in the minority."Actually, the reason Democrats are in the quagmire they are today is because they and the White House moved too far to the right, not because they embraced the blogs. None of them have embraced the blogs, even though much of what we espouse polls well with the majority of the American public, and, ironically, was included in candidate Obama's platform. The problems arose not when the President and Congress did too much of what the blogs wanted, it's when they refused to do what they already promised the American people, and thus came off weak and ineffective.
The Congress and the President moved to the right in an effort to appease the Republicans. And look what it got them. Nothing. For Evan Bayh to now pull a Sarah Palin, taking all his marbles and going home, is neither original nor helpful. Bayh can blame the demise of the Democratic party all on himself. They took his advice. Lord knows they aren't listening nearly enough to any of us.
In other news, the Republicans are apparently a bit ticked at Evan Bayh. It took him leaving to finally do something right.
