Balkinization   |
Balkinization
Balkinization Symposiums: A Continuing List                                                                E-mail: Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu David Luban david.luban at gmail.com Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu Compendium of posts on Hobby Lobby and related cases The Anti-Torture Memos: Balkinization Posts on Torture, Interrogation, Detention, War Powers, and OLC The Anti-Torture Memos (arranged by topic) Recent Posts Bayh bites the dust
|
Monday, February 15, 2010
Bayh bites the dust
Sandy Levinson
When announcing his decision not to run for re-election, Democratic Senator Evan Bayh said that “the institution is in need of significant reform.” It would obviously be interesting to know what he has in mind. Given his position as the Democratic Senator least likely to vote with his party, I suspect that he is a member of the "David Broder" school of "character reform," i.e., the ostensible need for more "bi-partisan" senators who are less "ideological" and "partisan." For reasons that need not be rehearsed here, that fantasy was fully spelled out in the 10th Federalist and proved to be completely non-descriptive of American politics, then and now. Indeed, his retirement probably makes it more likely that the next Senate will be even more polarized. Posted 4:42 PM by Sandy Levinson [link]
Comments:
I do hope that Evan Bayh's wife continues to remain on all those big time boards collecting her $100,000's of bribes.
Maybe he can get himself a top line lobby job.
Actually, people who actually care about things stick things out. They at the very least don't wait so long, making it harder for the Dems to find a good replacement. Who promised this moron a rose garden, anyway?
Bayh repeatedly has been shown to be a tool. Glenn Greenwald is right to ridicule the "Broder" faction, and I'd be glad he's gone, but that would be somewhat overly optimistic given the learning curve of the Democrats these days.* --- * To paraphrase Atrios, the Dems don't do enough to help solve the problems they were given a majority to solve. They lose seats. The "problem" for some then is not the inaction but that the Dems were too "partisan" and needs to work with the Republicans. Lucy Van Pelt is smiling somewhere.
I suspect that Bayh may be in equal parts thinking about 2010 and 2012.
Some of you may recall that Hillary actually won more Dem votes in 2008 and the Indis who gave Obama the nomination are deserting him in droves after the train wreck of the past year. A charismatic centrist Dem can be forgiven for sensing an opportunity in 2012. However, losing a Senate race in a swing state during the coming tsunami election in 2010 is not exactly the most propitious way of kicking off a campaign for president. Thus, the exit stage right. Maybe Bayh can pull a Palin and get a gig with CNN as a commentator-at-large.
Given the timing of his announcement, with filing deadlines imminent, it appears that he has sabotaged the Democrats' chances for the 2010 election.
It may just be possible that Harry Reid pushed him over the line by pulling the Baucus-Grassley jobs bill, right after obama's call for bipartisanship. I can see that being the last straw for a former governor who is oriented to actually getting things done. The senate today may not be what he signed up for, so he may not be interested in 6 more years as Sysiphus.
This is not to endorse the bipartisan jobs bill or any of Bayh's positions: he is well to the right of me. It is to suggest an interpretation that does not leap to suspicion of/assumed evil motives. As to sabotaging Democratic chances, it appears that the only individual gathering petitions is too disorganized to get petitions filed in time, and the party leaders will be able to pick a Democratic nominee. Whether they will be able to find a viable candidate willing to risk a run is an open question.
Jackson. Obama has been pushing for "bipartisanship" for awhile now. He called for it last year too. "The Senate" is not somehow changed the last few days.
So, why did he wait to the last minute? Of course, some longshot bid had a hard time of it. It was expected he would run again, and likely win the primary easily. If it was known he would not, wouldn't someone with a better chance have collected those signatures? As to getting things "done," what does that even mean? The "last straw" is the refusal to pass something, anything, supported by the same conservative Democrat that delayed health care for precious months trying to get Republican support that never came? Seriously? Heck, now that Sen. Brown is here and Dems alone can't break a filibuster, wouldn't there be BIGGER opening for bipartanship? And, after November, there might even be a few less Dems. More bipartisanship! And, what's the rush with the jobs bill? Didn't we just start seriously to talk about it? Cf. the time on health care. So, it just might be possible that you are just roaming for some way to defend him without much to go on. No sale, yet.
What got me about his little speech was his castigation of "both the left and right" for Congress' inaction. Please show me one bill that was killed by left-wing Democrats. He even referred to "members" who sabotaged the deficit commission -- they are Republicans, but he wouldn't say that word! He really dislikes Congress but will miss each and every one of his colleagues -- give me a break.
I think it's wiser to interpret Bayh's actions as an indication of where he thinks the better opportunities are.
I doubt that Bayh is looking at a presidential run, especially after the way he screwed the people of Indiana by resigning in such a manner as to preclude a primary. Given the business ties of his immediate family, I suspect that he simply wants to cash in and take up a lucrative position as a lobbyist or head of a business group. There's an opening with PHRMA, isn't there? And although the Democratic party may lose a few seats they will still be in the driver's seat for the next several years, so an influential ex-senator will be in an ideal situation to milk his influence. Through long experience I've found that taking politician's words at face value is seldom a guide to truth, so I entirely discount his stated reasons.
It may be amusing to return to this thread in July 2012 if Bayh wins the Dem nomination against Obama. All of you will be enthusiastically supporting him against anyone the GOP nominates.
Bart,
If the GOP gives us a brain-dead nitwit chosen by the tea-baggers, there won't be much choice. Enthusiastic? Sorry to dampen your theory, but I'll never enthusiastically support a hereditary member of the political aristocracy.
It may be amusing to return to this thread in July 2012 if Bayh wins the Dem nomination against Obama. All of you will be enthusiastically supporting him against anyone the GOP nominates.
# posted by Bart DePalma : 10:01 AM As someone who enthusiastically supported RINO McCain in the last election, I'm not sure why you'd be amused by that.
Is our intrepid former backpacker looking forward to sense of humor transplant with this:
"It may be amusing to return to this thread in July 2012 ...." It's more amusing to look back at threads of our yodeler's predictions going back to the Bush/Cheney days and especially during the 2008 campaign.
Isn't the most logical conclusion that he realizes he no longer has any shot at higher office? He is too right to win the dems, and the republicans are too batsh*t crazy for him to go over to. So, let's go make some money in the private sector while the gettin's good, right? Maybe Obama let him know that he will not be replacing Biden on the ticket in '12, so he's out. Plus, with Brown in, and a net loss likely, his clout is gone. He can't do anything, because bills will pass by reconciliation or not at all. so he's not one of the kingmakers any more. And that's what being in the Senate is all about - feeling important. If he can't have that anymore, might as well get out.
Or could he be gearing up for Bloomburg/Bayh '12?
Nerp:
You have joined Fred Barnes in opining that the Dems have shifted too far left to nominate a centrist like Bayh. I am unsure about that given that Clinton earned more Dem votes than Obama in 2008, but let's go with that thought. Given that Bloomberg is nearly as far left as Obama and barely electable in NYC nevertheless the United States, I doubt Bayh even considers an Indi ticket with him. However, since we are fantasizing, what would happen if Palin won the GOP nomination, chose Bayh as her VP and Bayh accepted? Would the GOP base accept Bayh? Would the Tea Party voters? Ideologically, Bayh is center right. He generated a surplus by limiting spending, cut taxes and reformed welfare as governor. The only opposition would be partisan. A Palin/Bayh ticket would be a damn bold outreach to the Dem and Indi center. Whatchya think?
Anyone who thinks Palin has any support outside the lunatic fringe of the GOP is batshit fucking crazy.
Mr. DePalma,
I certainly think if the republican base would accept him, Bayh would be an interesting cross-over candidate. However, the problem with your hypothetical ticket is not the bottom, but the top. I don't know if anyone short of Jesus Christ himself can make Palin electable in a general election. (maybe Reagan's Ghost). Plus, I don't think VP's are useful for garnering outside support, instead they are better for revving up the base (as Palin very successfully did). In the end, if the person at the top of the ticket is an affront to all that is good and pure in the world to a dem, a Jefferson-FDR-every Kennedy-Clinton gene spliced VP wouldn't be sufficient to get any cross-over support. Bayh has a much better chance as an independent.
nerp:
I agree that VP candidates do not win elections. I am more interested in the what a Bayh selection would say about Palin to voters than whether Bayh himself brings any additional voting block on board. The idea of bringing on a VP candidate from the other party to form a "bipartisan ticket" as been around for a number of years. No one had the guts. However, Palin is branding herself as the rogue candidate who operates outside of party machines and acts on principle. Of course, Palin knows she cannot operate completely outside the party system and is acting like the faithful member in raising money and campaigning for GOP candidates and as a friend supporting McCain for the favor of placing her on the national stage. However, the choice of someone like Bayh because he is a conservative rather than a Republican would arguably reinforce her rogue street cred.
Bart, she needs more than rogue street cred. She needs what she'll likely never have: the confidence of the public.
To her deficits you can add learning, judgement and maturity.
mattski:
May the Obama folks be as dismissive as you. CNN has 52% of registered voters saying that Obama does not deserve reelection. Meanwhile, Palin is mobbed everywhere she goes - most recently at the Daytona 500, where she received a standing ovation from the drivers and the crews when she walked in to do a meet and greet on the way to a nearby political event. Even if Palin is as incompetent as you hope, that does not mean she could not win in 2012. See Obama 2008.
Mr. DePalma,
Let's see if I can do this too... May the Palin folks be as dismissive as you. WashPo/ABC has Palin's favorable/unfavorable at 37%/55% with 38% strongly unfavorable and only 18%. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_021010.html?sid=ST2010021100035 Meanwhile, Obama is mobbed everywhere he goes. Easy as Pie!
Even if Palin is as incompetent as you hope, that does not mean she could not win in 2012. See Obama 2008.
Post a Comment
I think you meant to say, "see 1980." But you're right, even persons of very modest ability can get elected president in the US. See also 2000 & 2004. Rave on, Bart, it's a crazy feeling!
|
Books by Balkinization Bloggers Linda C. McClain and Aziza Ahmed, The Routledge Companion to Gender and COVID-19 (Routledge, 2024) David Pozen, The Constitution of the War on Drugs (Oxford University Press, 2024) Jack M. Balkin, Memory and Authority: The Uses of History in Constitutional Interpretation (Yale University Press, 2024) Mark A. Graber, Punish Treason, Reward Loyalty: The Forgotten Goals of Constitutional Reform after the Civil War (University of Kansas Press, 2023) Jack M. Balkin, What Roe v. Wade Should Have Said: The Nation's Top Legal Experts Rewrite America's Most Controversial Decision - Revised Edition (NYU Press, 2023) Andrew Koppelman, Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed (St. Martin’s Press, 2022) Gerard N. Magliocca, Washington's Heir: The Life of Justice Bushrod Washington (Oxford University Press, 2022) Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath, The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy (Harvard University Press, 2022) Mark Tushnet and Bojan Bugaric, Power to the People: Constitutionalism in the Age of Populism (Oxford University Press 2021). Mark Philip Bradley and Mary L. Dudziak, eds., Making the Forever War: Marilyn B. Young on the Culture and Politics of American Militarism Culture and Politics in the Cold War and Beyond (University of Massachusetts Press, 2021). Jack M. Balkin, What Obergefell v. Hodges Should Have Said: The Nation's Top Legal Experts Rewrite America's Same-Sex Marriage Decision (Yale University Press, 2020) Frank Pasquale, New Laws of Robotics: Defending Human Expertise in the Age of AI (Belknap Press, 2020) Jack M. Balkin, The Cycles of Constitutional Time (Oxford University Press, 2020) Mark Tushnet, Taking Back the Constitution: Activist Judges and the Next Age of American Law (Yale University Press 2020). Andrew Koppelman, Gay Rights vs. Religious Liberty?: The Unnecessary Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2020) Ezekiel J Emanuel and Abbe R. Gluck, The Trillion Dollar Revolution: How the Affordable Care Act Transformed Politics, Law, and Health Care in America (PublicAffairs, 2020) Linda C. McClain, Who's the Bigot?: Learning from Conflicts over Marriage and Civil Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2020) Sanford Levinson and Jack M. Balkin, Democracy and Dysfunction (University of Chicago Press, 2019) Sanford Levinson, Written in Stone: Public Monuments in Changing Societies (Duke University Press 2018) Mark A. Graber, Sanford Levinson, and Mark Tushnet, eds., Constitutional Democracy in Crisis? (Oxford University Press 2018) Gerard Magliocca, The Heart of the Constitution: How the Bill of Rights became the Bill of Rights (Oxford University Press, 2018) Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today (Peachtree Publishers, 2017) Brian Z. Tamanaha, A Realistic Theory of Law (Cambridge University Press 2017) Sanford Levinson, Nullification and Secession in Modern Constitutional Thought (University Press of Kansas 2016) Sanford Levinson, An Argument Open to All: Reading The Federalist in the 21st Century (Yale University Press 2015) Stephen M. Griffin, Broken Trust: Dysfunctional Government and Constitutional Reform (University Press of Kansas, 2015) Frank Pasquale, The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information (Harvard University Press, 2015) Bruce Ackerman, We the People, Volume 3: The Civil Rights Revolution (Harvard University Press, 2014) Balkinization Symposium on We the People, Volume 3: The Civil Rights Revolution Joseph Fishkin, Bottlenecks: A New Theory of Equal Opportunity (Oxford University Press, 2014) Mark A. Graber, A New Introduction to American Constitutionalism (Oxford University Press, 2013) John Mikhail, Elements of Moral Cognition: Rawls' Linguistic Analogy and the Cognitive Science of Moral and Legal Judgment (Cambridge University Press, 2013) Gerard N. Magliocca, American Founding Son: John Bingham and the Invention of the Fourteenth Amendment (New York University Press, 2013) Stephen M. Griffin, Long Wars and the Constitution (Harvard University Press, 2013) Andrew Koppelman, The Tough Luck Constitution and the Assault on Health Care Reform (Oxford University Press, 2013) James E. Fleming and Linda C. McClain, Ordered Liberty: Rights, Responsibilities, and Virtues (Harvard University Press, 2013) Balkinization Symposium on Ordered Liberty: Rights, Responsibilities, and Virtues Andrew Koppelman, Defending American Religious Neutrality (Harvard University Press, 2013) Brian Z. Tamanaha, Failing Law Schools (University of Chicago Press, 2012) Sanford Levinson, Framed: America's 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance (Oxford University Press, 2012) Linda C. McClain and Joanna L. Grossman, Gender Equality: Dimensions of Women's Equal Citizenship (Cambridge University Press, 2012) Mary Dudziak, War Time: An Idea, Its History, Its Consequences (Oxford University Press, 2012) Jack M. Balkin, Living Originalism (Harvard University Press, 2011) Jason Mazzone, Copyfraud and Other Abuses of Intellectual Property Law (Stanford University Press, 2011) Richard W. Garnett and Andrew Koppelman, First Amendment Stories, (Foundation Press 2011) Jack M. Balkin, Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World (Harvard University Press, 2011) Gerard Magliocca, The Tragedy of William Jennings Bryan: Constitutional Law and the Politics of Backlash (Yale University Press, 2011) Bernard Harcourt, The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order (Harvard University Press, 2010) Bruce Ackerman, The Decline and Fall of the American Republic (Harvard University Press, 2010) Balkinization Symposium on The Decline and Fall of the American Republic Ian Ayres. Carrots and Sticks: Unlock the Power of Incentives to Get Things Done (Bantam Books, 2010) Mark Tushnet, Why the Constitution Matters (Yale University Press 2010) Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff: Lifecycle Investing: A New, Safe, and Audacious Way to Improve the Performance of Your Retirement Portfolio (Basic Books, 2010) Jack M. Balkin, The Laws of Change: I Ching and the Philosophy of Life (2d Edition, Sybil Creek Press 2009) Brian Z. Tamanaha, Beyond the Formalist-Realist Divide: The Role of Politics in Judging (Princeton University Press 2009) Andrew Koppelman and Tobias Barrington Wolff, A Right to Discriminate?: How the Case of Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale Warped the Law of Free Association (Yale University Press 2009) Jack M. Balkin and Reva B. Siegel, The Constitution in 2020 (Oxford University Press 2009) Heather K. Gerken, The Democracy Index: Why Our Election System Is Failing and How to Fix It (Princeton University Press 2009) Mary Dudziak, Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey (Oxford University Press 2008) David Luban, Legal Ethics and Human Dignity (Cambridge Univ. Press 2007) Ian Ayres, Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way to be Smart (Bantam 2007) Jack M. Balkin, James Grimmelmann, Eddan Katz, Nimrod Kozlovski, Shlomit Wagman and Tal Zarsky, eds., Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked Environment (N.Y.U. Press 2007) Jack M. Balkin and Beth Simone Noveck, The State of Play: Law, Games, and Virtual Worlds (N.Y.U. Press 2006) Andrew Koppelman, Same Sex, Different States: When Same-Sex Marriages Cross State Lines (Yale University Press 2006) Brian Tamanaha, Law as a Means to an End (Cambridge University Press 2006) Sanford Levinson, Our Undemocratic Constitution (Oxford University Press 2006) Mark Graber, Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil (Cambridge University Press 2006) Jack M. Balkin, ed., What Roe v. Wade Should Have Said (N.Y.U. Press 2005) Sanford Levinson, ed., Torture: A Collection (Oxford University Press 2004) Balkin.com homepage Bibliography Conlaw.net Cultural Software Writings Opeds The Information Society Project BrownvBoard.com Useful Links Syllabi and Exams |