Evan Bayh not Running for Re-Election

That post will be just fine without pictures.

 

You got me. I hate old white people. Can't fuckin' stand 'em. Can't stand the way they smell, talk and wear bedsheets. People tell me that old white folks are all kind-hearted, cookie-distributing, hard candy-offering, sweet-as-the-dickens, sweater-wearing types who wouldn't hurt a fly of any race or ethnicity, but all I see is a the kindly facade masking Grandma yelling her teeth out about the black, Mexicans and Arabs.

 

You suggested that one can't make a claim without concrete proof. And yet when it comes to religion, there's no proof required.

The fact that I don't have statistics close at hand for the fact that a lot of elderly white Americans decided not to vote for Obama because of his race doesn't make it not true. How do I know? Well, I just do.

 

I had a conversation with my great-aunt prior to the election (a woman I had previously thought quite moderate and bright), in which she said she was afraid that Obama would use his presidency to "get back" at white people for the various wrongs done to blacks in America over the centuries. It was a primary reason she voted for McCain.



I'm not claiming this is common, but it was a rather disturbing little conversation and it's made me a look at the question of Obama and the reaction to him from a good part of the population differently.

ETA: As for Bayh, I am surprised, but he did have some problems at home that pre-election polling probably made very clear. And I suspect many Democrats wouldn't have hesitated to rough him up in the primaries to make him a less-appealing candidate in November. I presume he just saw there was a good chance he wasn't going to win.

 

[quote author=fishhack2009 Feb. 15,1978]

No chance in hell that Carter gets a primary challenge. As much as the left might grumble about him, the last thing any real Dem wants is to give the White House back to the GNOP.

Keep wishing, though.
[/quote]Fixed.

 

Please, please, please have Obama crisscross the country campaigning for Democrats. Pretty please with sugar on top.

 

As I recall, a lot of Republicans weren't sure they wanted Reagan campaigning for them in '82. But despite their dips in popularity, Reagan in '82 and Obama in '10 are still far more popular than anyone in Congress. Reagan needed to run around in '82 to make sure the blue-collar "Reagan Democrats" would come out for Republicans, and Obama needs to get his younger base excited about coming out for Democrats in '10. Part of the reason the party in power tends to lose seats is because without that top-of-the-ticket candidate, there's no one there to lift everyone else up.

In the mid-terms, turnout is so low that getting more of your base out makes much more of a difference. If you want a greater Republican gain, hope Obama DOESN'T campaign.

 

The context begins before he uses the word "many," -- which is also a baseless claim, by the way. It begins when he says "I'm not calling all older white people racists" which is his way of saying he believes the great majority are but maybe there are a few who aren't.

 

Obama's problem is that it's tougher to turn out younger voters than it is to turn out older ones.

 

The DC media keeps talking about Bayh running for governor in '12 to set up a '16 presidential run, but it's tough to see that scenario playing out. The only way he runs for gov is if Mitch Daniels opts for the presidential race (and I think Daniels would be the best GOP candidate, if he cared enough to run), because he wouldn't beat Daniels. And I don't see how Bayh would make it through a Democratic primary. And if he did, he'd be a bland, boring candidate.

Clinton's 2000 comments notwithstanding, I don't think there are many Dems who want to vote for a President Bayh one day. Maybe it'll change by 2016. I doubt it.

 

My thinking? This guy will.

 

I didn't support Obamacare, but one of the things I thought was telling was how much apathy Barack met when he tried to sell younger voters on it. Their reaction was kind of a shrug, sort of like "oh, that doesn't apply to me". OH YES IT DOES! You're going to get older voters passionately reacting to things, but to get the young vote back involved is a lot harder. If Obama can't keep the young bloc together in '12, he's toast.

As for Bayh, I have a feeling that seat flips red. Aside from the toll road corridor, Indianapolis and the Chicago burbs in NW Indiana, the state trends Republican.