Why didn't Obama pick Evan Bayh?

[The Arizonan]

Why didn't he pick Evan Bayh? Did it have to do with the governor of Indiana being a Republican and Indiana being a deep-red state?

[Saxwsylvania]

Evan Bayh is the biggest moderate hero of all time, and Obama didn't want to be outshined.

[tmthforu94]

1. Bayh isn't a charismatic person
2. Bayh would have "looked better" than Obama, as he has no downfall.

Bayh would have been a great Vice President, and even a greater President. It's a shame he didn't run in 2008. He was the best candidate of all Democrats considering.

[Magic 8-Ball]

Bayh doesn't seem suited for the "attack dog" role.  Biden, on the other hand, fits that role quite well.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Also, Bayh isn't a strong public speaker.

Why didn't he pick Evan Bayh? Did it have to do with the governor of Indiana being a Republican and Indiana being a deep-red state?

Obama campaigned hard in Indiana and ultimately won it, so probably not. Biden is from Delaware, a deep blue state, so Obama probably wasn't taking home states into too much consideration when he made his VP choice.

[Saxwsylvania]

When Obama chose a veep, he was looking for an elder statesmen who would help him on the experience front.  At the same time, he was worried about Pennsylvania.  Biden, who could help him the Philadelphia suburbs, proved to be the ideal candidate.  He also contrasts well with the arrogant, aloof, professorial Obama.

[LastMcGovernite]

There was also a massive move on facebook against Evan Bayh becoming Veep in the immediate weeks before Biden was chosen.  I don't know if that had any impact, but it is worth mentioning.

I also think tone may have had a role- Bayh exudes the 'Washington-ness'- careful, cautious, milquetoast characteristics that Obama was trying to avoid.  Being a senator's son (even a truly great senator like Birch Bayh) didn't help.  Granted, Biden is in some ways a prototypical Washington man, but at least he had a scrappy upbringing in Scranton that you could use to help shape the narrative.

It would have also a co-chair on the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which would have clashed rather jarringly with Obama's dovish inclinations.

I don't dislike Bayh- he probably would have been my second choice after Biden- but I appreciate now how much he would have contrasted with Obama's style.  He would have provided dissonance, rather than balance.

[Lunar]

As has been stated

1- Big grassroots movement against him
2- Bayh is hella pro-war, sort of the antithesis of what Obama wanted to run on
3- The media had already decided how to frame Bayh -- "boring" -- there would be no way to shake that label no matter what he did.

[Coburn In 2012]

obama is an extremist radical sociailist and bayh is just an old style democrat liberal

[ChrisJG777]

obama is an extremist radical sociailist and bayh is just an old style democrat liberal

There's an object out there called a "dictionary", and I do believe you'll find it very useful in looking up the words 'socialist' and 'liberal', as neither of which mean what you think they do.

[Coburn In 2012]

obama is an extremist radical sociailist and bayh is just an old style democrat liberal

There's an object out there called a "dictionary", and I do believe you'll find it very useful in looking up the words 'socialist' and 'liberal', as neither of which mean what you think they do.

I know what they stand for.

1.  Take money from those who earn it by hard work and pass it out to those who are too lazy to work.
2.  Oppose business and corporations at all costs (except the abortion industry of course!)
3.  Promote the beleif that girls should be able to kill their children in the womb and have MAJOR SURGERY but require them to get at least a parents note in order to take a asprin at school.
4.  Pass out rubbers to children just coming of age so they don't get a disease.  Teach them that gay is a-ok and encourage them to try it.  Abstinance is a dumb old fashion idea even tho it stops pregnency and disease EVERY SINGLE TIME IT IS EMPLOYED. 
5.  Revise history and science teaching standards to scorn every mention of God or traditional values.  Blame the white race for everything bad that ever happened.
6.  Let criminals have all the guns they want but mock & punish law abiding citizens for owning guns
7.   Christmas is too Christian so get rid of it for kawanazaaa and for pagan wiccan solstace holidays
8.  Apologize to our enemies and bend over giving them whatever they want in exchange for peace. Get rid of the old fashion Patrick Henry ideas of give me liberty or give me death. 
9.   The people who fly planes into skyscrapers need to be listened to and understood not destroyed.
10.  Give criminals college educations and tv sets and game boys in prison.

I could go on but this is basically what liberals and socialists (and obama0 stand for.  You know opebo on here?  At least he admits these are his views.  the rest of them play games and pretend these are not their agenda items

[Rowan]

Because he's white.

[Coburn In 2012]

Because he's white.

Well so is hairplugs.

[Magic 8-Ball]

I think that Clinton could have restarted her campaign if Obama had announced Bayh as his running mate because Bayh had a lack of experience compared to Obama.

Could Clinton have had won the nomination or atleast made the convention ugly?

WTF?  Bayh was a two-term governor and is in his second term as Senator.

How in the world would that scenario occur?

[Iosif]

Because Bayh is a rubbish democrat.

[BM]

Why is this even being discussed? Obviously Biden worked (or didn't have much impact at all) and Obama won Indiana without Bayh.  The Democratic ticket was always about Obama so I don't really think the VP pick mattered all that much, as long as it was someone who could perform.  He certainly didn't need a strategic choice from a geographic standpoint, which is overrated in today's world anyway.

[ChrisJG777]

obama is an extremist radical sociailist and bayh is just an old style democrat liberal

There's an object out there called a "dictionary", and I do believe you'll find it very useful in looking up the words 'socialist' and 'liberal', as neither of which mean what you think they do.

I know what they stand for.

1.  Take money from those who earn it by hard work and pass it out to those who are too lazy to work.
2.  Oppose business and corporations at all costs (except the abortion industry of course!)
3.  Promote the beleif that girls should be able to kill their children in the womb and have MAJOR SURGERY but require them to get at least a parents note in order to take a asprin at school.
4.  Pass out rubbers to children just coming of age so they don't get a disease.  Teach them that gay is a-ok and encourage them to try it.  Abstinance is a dumb old fashion idea even tho it stops pregnency and disease EVERY SINGLE TIME IT IS EMPLOYED. 
5.  Revise history and science teaching standards to scorn every mention of God or traditional values.  Blame the white race for everything bad that ever happened.
6.  Let criminals have all the guns they want but mock & punish law abiding citizens for owning guns
7.   Christmas is too Christian so get rid of it for kawanazaaa and for pagan wiccan solstace holidays
8.  Apologize to our enemies and bend over giving them whatever they want in exchange for peace. Get rid of the old fashion Patrick Henry ideas of give me liberty or give me death. 
9.   The people who fly planes into skyscrapers need to be listened to and understood not destroyed.
10.  Give criminals college educations and tv sets and game boys in prison.

I could go on but this is basically what liberals and socialists (and obama0 stand for.  You know opebo on here?  At least he admits these are his views.  the rest of them play games and pretend these are not their agenda items

Oh so wrong on all counts!  Just admit you don't know what they mean, because it's none of that complete rubbish you've just spouted there, I assure you. 

Socialism for starters, is an economic philosophy in which it is believed that more or less all business should be run by the workers (in its simplest definition), who take the profits from those enterprises and share them up equally.  It's got nothing to do whatsoever with taxing people to oblivion or giving people something for nothing.  In fact most socialist believe that people who refuse to work shouldn't get anything back at all!  Look carefully at Obama's economic policies and any person with common sense will tell you it's not even close to socialism.  Just because he shows support for universal healthcare and workers rights, that does not make him the reincarnation of Lenin.

Next up, Liberalism.  Liberalism is the notion that the government shouldn't intefere in the personal and economic affairs of citizens, they favour "small government" so to speak- such is the definition of classical liberalism.  Liberalism has to be the most abused political term in American culture.  Most true liberals in America are very often referred to as "libertarians" over there, but most other people will see them as liberals.  Liberals are pro-capitalists who harbour a disdain towards authoritarian social policies.  In the economic sense most Republicans are liberals, but they tend not to be in the social sense.   Evan Bayh is not a liberal.  In European parlances at the very least he'd be seen as a centrist moderate-conservative (so, if he was British he'd be a Tory, or a member of the CDU if German, both parties are seen as the main conservative parties in their respective countries).

Most of what you listed has nothing to do with the general definitions and workings of these two ideologies.  In fact liberalism and socialism are economically incompatible!

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Socialists believe quite the opposite you'll find, take money from lazy rich people and give it to the hard working poor.  But that's a gross oversimplification.

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Abortion industry?  I won't even comment on that one.  Socialists tend to oppose industries who behave in an unethical manner, whilst praising those who treat workers well and are run by people with scruples.  Liberals on the other hand prefer not to interfere in the affairs of corporations and businesses.

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Now this is bollocks through and through.  I won't dignify this one with a rebuttal.

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You seriously expect everyone to resist giving in to their sexual urges?  If you can then good for you, but for everyone else contraceptives (condoms especially) should be available, as should education on safe sex.  Abstinence isn't for everyone, and getting everyone to practise it doesn't always work.  Furthermore, there is no proof whatsoever that liberals and socialists are trying to encourage people to be homosexuals, you can't choose your sexuality like you can a pair of socks.

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God and religion for starters, have no place in rational scientific discussion.  If you want to teach about God and traditions, do it in Religious Studies lessons, and even then, only teach about them, don't try to teach people to follow them if they don't want to.  Indoctrination has no place in the education system.  As for blaming white people for all the bad things that've happened, now that's just ridiculous full stop.

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Won't dignify with a rebuttal.

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This made me facepalm at how retarded some people can be.  Won't dignify with a rebuttal.

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I don't know where you got this from, but it is absolutely absurd.  Won't dignify.
 

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The people who flew the planes into the skyscrapers are already dead so this point is moot.

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Not even "hippie liberals" support giving prison inmates ridiculous luxuries.  As for education opportunities, the penal system really should be more about rehabilitation than punishment, for the most part, so people who are doing time for crimes like theft should be given a chance to make themselves an honest living once they get out, otherwise they'd just re-offend.  This does not necessarily apply to rapists, murderers and their likes though.


Of course, you're unlikely to come to your senses on any of these points, I thought I'd just post this in the highly unlikely even that you do decided to take notice of what I've written. 

[pbrower2a]

obama is an extremist radical sociailist and bayh is just an old style democrat liberal

If you fail to see the contradiction in that post, then you are intellectually blind.

[pbrower2a]

obama is an extremist radical sociailist and bayh is just an old style democrat liberal

There's an object out there called a "dictionary", and I do believe you'll find it very useful in looking up the words 'socialist' and 'liberal', as neither of which mean what you think they do.

I know what they stand for.

No, you don't.

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Yeah, sure, get the kiddies out of public schools and send them to the mines and factories where they can have their minds stunted and their attitudes soured so that they can become commies.

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Big corporations have accreted so much power that they constitute threats to democracy, and they have created entrenched elites who think of the common man as if livestock -- with no right to any security or happiness.

We would be far better off with higher taxes so that mom-and-pop businesses could compete with giant establishments and perhaps serve people better while creating more jobs and not wielding so much political power.

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Do you realize that nothing so promotes abortion as a messed-up economy that creates pessimism about the welfare of a child? Abortions became more commonplace under the shaky economy associated with George Worthless Bush than under the more healthy economy under Bill Clinton?     

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What's wrong with homosexuality? It's not a choice; it's a reality. Abstinence is a good idea, but it must be complete to be effective. It's best done while sober, and it can't be practiced during rape.

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Strawman alert! Let's start by recognizing that Jews, Christians, and Muslims pray to the same god. Let's recognize that the idea of a Just and Loving God gives comfort to people who need such comfort. Let's recognize that some of the great moral  issues and philosophical questions have gotten discussion by clergy. Let's also recognize that some traditional values are worthy and some are obsolete. We can of course fault racism for offering few (if any) good results and much evil.

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Like Obama (and Ronald Reagan) I believe in the diametric opposite of what you suggest.

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Some people have no use for Christmas, Kwanzaa, or pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. Some of them are called Jews and they celebrate Hanukkah, a celebration of political freedom.

Did you know why Christmas is such a big celebration? Church Fathers chose to make the greatest Feast Day of Christendom co-opt the Roman pagan Saturnalia, a celebration of the "rebirth" of the Sun soon after the winter solstice on December 25. Yule logs and Christmas trees come from old German/Norse pagan traditions.

Now you know.   

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I agree with a variant of Patrick Henry's saying:

"Give us liberty or we might give you death", an appropriate response to fascists, Nazis, and at times commies and Ba'athists.

Tell me all about the recent troubles we have had with Germany, Italy, and Japan lately. Treat those that you defeat with decency, and you get lasting peace. Good idea?

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The perverts who commandeered jetliners and flew them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon or were thwarted on board while apparently headed to the "Faculty of Law" (the Capitol Building) are dead. Whether Satan listens to them in Hell is beyond my imagination.

We understand them as we must -- as pure, unadulterated evil. 

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You'd be surprised how effective an old-fashioned liberal arts education -- the sort that  there's more to life than material gain and crude delights both to be had through the exploitation or theft from others-- is at stopping recidivism. Heck, that might have stopped some of the exploitation that we see in our executive class. TV sets and game boys? Pacifiers. 

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You are very serious in your folly. Grow up, punk.

[pogo stick]

1. Bayh isn't a charismatic person
2. Bayh would have "looked better" than Obama, as he has no downfall.

Bayh would have been a great Vice President, and even a greater President. It's a shame he didn't run in 2008. He was the best candidate of all Democrats considering.

[Rob]

Because he's a worthless prick, and Obama knew it. I wish I could have seen the look on Bayh's face when the President carried Indiana regardless.

Because he's white.

Of course; that's why he chose that noted black man, Joe Biden, instead.

[Progressive]

obama is an extremist radical sociailist and bayh is just an old style democrat liberal

i bet u dont even know what those words mean...and not just because ur an uneducated republican

[pogo stick]

Because he's a worthless prick, and Obama knew it. I wish I could have seen the look on Bayh's face when the President carried Indiana regardless.

Because he's white.

Of course; that's why he chose that noted black man, Joe Biden, instead.

I can see why you hate him, especially by looking at your PM Score. Bayh is too moderate for you

[pogo stick]

Chris, of course rich people are lazy because they just get money out of their asses right?


Both rich and poor work hard. Every American should be treated the same. Income tax should be unconstitutional

[exopolitician]

Because Bayh is a rubbish democrat.