Sen. Evan Bayh's retirement amounts to the end of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and its foundational principle. DLC-style triangulation just does not work anymore, because the GOP won't take "YES" for an answer.
The DLC, born in the aftermath of Reagan, determined that in order to win elections, Democrats must become more like Republicans. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it worked for a while. The DLC's crowning success was the Clinton Administration, and its eventual budget surplus.
But, the GOP has become completely irresponsible. Consequently, the DLC's trademark technique, triangulation, has turned sour. Sen. Evan Bayh's recent mid-life crisis offers an example. Bayh attempted yet another triangulation with his Debt Commission, and it blew up in his face. So, he's giving up.
This particular triangulation FAIL proved toxic to all three sides.
• On our side, the timing of Bayh's decision thwarts the Hoosier base. We'll have no say in his replacement.
• On their side, the GOP is soon to lose their favorite Democrat in the Senate. Bayh was so useful to the GOP as the Bush Administration's chief Democratic enabler in the Senate. And it seems that Bayh's timing has left them with a sub-optimum candidate for Bayh's seat: Dan Coats, lobbyist and former has-been. (Jeff Sharlet, in The Family, writes of Coats: "a bulb so dim he considers Dan Quayle a mentor.")
• On the third side is Bayh himself. He's so frustrated, he's going to take his ball and go home. Triangulation just doesn't work anymore.
Since the Bush Administration's high water mark—and in this view, I mean its attempt to privatize Social Security, not Katrina—the DLC's trajectory has been a downward spiraling vapor trail: Sen. Joe Lieberman lost his primary in 2006; Sen. Clinton lost her primary in 2008; and Terry McAuliffe, the DLC's money man, lost his primary in 2009. All were DLC pillars, and all were well-funded, acknowledged front runners, and all three lost. Now, with Sen. Bayh's swan song, the DLC's vapor trail has ended in a smoking crater—and not with a bang, but a whimper.
This morning's news has Bayh turning on his esteemed GOP colleagues. Bayh was stung that seven GOP Senators—co-sponsors!—voted against his debt commission. And in his misery, he now favors reform of the Senate filibuster:
Evan Evan Bayh wants to weaken the filibuster
"But the public has a right to see its business done, and not routinely allow a small minority to keep us from addressing the great issues that face this country. I think the filibuster absolutely needs to be changed."
The Democratic wing of the Democratic Party can now hope that all Senate Democrats learn from Bayh's negative example. There's no upside to pretending that the GOP presently can be a responsible opposition partner in governance.