Hope or High Water

Now that numerous sources have begun to speculate that the race for VP is down to a couple of names.  Specifically, Tim Kaine, Virginia’s governor, and Evan Bayh, the Senator from Indiana, have been getting the most attention.  Even Faux news is getting in on the act.

I haven’t posted in awhile for numerous reasons, but mostly because I was getting burned out on this whole election and was furious when Obama cast his vote to pass FISA legislation.  I still believe that Obama is the only candidate that can lead this nation, but I am suspicious of his centrist political posturing.  It seems clear that Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh represent two paths the Obama campaign (and subsequent Obama administration) can choose to follow.  Tim Kaine is a young progressive democrat from a conservative state that tends to lean to the center on certain issues, like the death penalty.  Kaine is a progressive first and his departures from progressive thought are the exceptions rather than the rule.  Kaine is relatively popular in his home state and will help a democratic candidate win Virginia for the first time since Johnson.  Kaine has supported Obama since way back in February 2007 and was the first governor to throw his support behind Obama.  The men have campaigned together in the past, as Obama was a primary supporter of Kaine’s run for governor.  Kaine is not a Washington insider, and would be able to match Obama’s promise to change Washington.  As added bonuses, Kaine is a religious Catholic and speaks fluent Spanish from his days as a missionary, thus helping Obama with two key demographics.  What’s not to like?

I am a Hoosier, so I grew up with the Bayh family running the democratic party in my state.  Evan Bayh’s father, Birch Bayh, was a good man and a great politician.  He was progressive before it was in vogue to use that term.  Evan Bayh, however, has fallen far from the tree.  He is a conservative democrat who Chaired the Democratic Leadership Council and the New Democrats.  These two groups are responsible for low-spending, low-regulation democrats who share many of the same economic values as conservative republicans.  While the Richard Lugar, the Republican Senator from Indiana, was denouncing the rush to go to war in Iraq, Evan Bayh was getting his picture taken with Bush and McCain in an united front to start hostilities in the region.  Bayh was among the first senators to openly endorse Hillary Clinton for president.

While Kaine represents the progressive leaning young democrats, Bayh represents the conservative wing of the democratic party.  Kaine represents the kind of Obama administration I hoped for when I voted for him.  Bayh represents an Obama administration that is kowtowing to party elders asking for Obama to move to the center.

If Obama is true to his word that the people, not the special interests, control his campaign, then we should have a say in his choice of Veep.  I encourage all readers to donate to the Obama campaign now and attach a message that donations will not continue if Bayh is the choice.  We cannot let Obama continue to fail us as a progressive president by moving towards the center.  Please encourage your friends and family to convey the same message to the Obama campaign.