Evan Bayh addressed the National Press Club in Washington, DC and Iowans in Des Moines today in a speech that slammed President Bush and Republicans for abandoning the Middle Class for the privileged and pleaded with Democrats to refocus their message to one of creating an "Opportunity Society" for the Middle Class:
Middle Class Americans know that President Bush and his Administration represent the privileged. They know that Democrats stand for those less fortunate, and proudly so. They look to Washington and see a government absorbed in self-interest. Who speaks for them, those neither rich nor poor? Too often, their answer is "no one."
For the future of our nation and the future of my Party, that must change.
If this President will not speak for our Middle Class, I will. And if Democrats want to lead this nation, we must.
Click here for the full text of Bayh's Speech(PDF)
The AP has a good write up of the speech online already and according to the story, the Middle Class will be focus of a possible Bayh presidential campaign:
He said that should he decide to run, creating opportunities for the middle class will be a focus of his campaign.
"I'm going to make it the centerpiece, not the afterthought," Bayh said as he laid out proposals for making college more affordable, curtailing rising health care costs, strengthening retirement accounts and conserving energy a full 18 months before the Iowa caucuses.
In the blogosphere, Chris Woods' Politicalforecast.net covered Bayh's speech in Des Moines, Iowa and had this to say:
I think the focus and theme of an opportunity society for the middle class, and how we as Democrats should help build one, is absolutely a focus we should have come November of this year and in 2008.
[...]
I was quite pleasantly surprised when he offered statistics and the means to help the middle class and build this opportunity society, capitalizing on the faith in the American dream. I wasn't expecting that type of blunt offering of ideas from him this early.
Visit the All America PAC blog for more coverage of Evan Bayh's Speech and either post your comments here on DailyKos or in our "Open Thread" on the AAPAC Blog.
Video of Bayh's speech will be online later tonight.