WASHINGTON — Having lived in the belly of the beast for much of his life, Evan Bayh has emerged — soul apparently intact — to testify about it.
What he witnessed convinced him that giving it all up and walking away was better than staying part of the criminal charade that is Congress today.
From when he was a boy of 8, his father was a senator.
Like many sons of senators, he grew up attending elite schools here. And until Evan Bayh was 26 years old, his father was a member of the most exclusive club on earth.
And for more than the past decade, Bayh has been a member of that same club, sitting in the very seat once held so long by his father.
Going back nearly 50 years, one Bayh or the other has seen Congress in all its forms. Broke. Flush. Divided and deadlocked. Controlled by Republicans.
And today, Evan Bayh is part of a Congress controlled by Democrats. We’re talking historic control of not just Congress, but all of Washington, by his party.
Democrats enjoy overwhelming control of the House and, until very recently, unstoppable control of the Senate.
And, of course, down Pennsylvania Avenue, his party controls the White House.
For Democrats, this is a royal flush.
Most of them have been dancing in the streets, eating at the finest restaurants, drawing fanciful legislation, entertaining the richest lobbyists and jet-setting around the globe to flaunt all their great new power.
For Evan Bayh?
Like most Americans, it made him ill. And so, he told his supporters, he would rather just walk away.
“I love working for the people of Indiana,” he said. “I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives. But I do not love Congress.”
Could anyone deliver a more crushing rebuke of the Democratic reign we have seen over the past 13 months?
Adding deep insult to injury, Bayh did not even lift the phone to inform Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid before announcing that he was giving up his seat in one of the most inhospitable places on the map for Democrats.
One of the issues of gravest concern to Bayh is the insane and reckless spending.
At a televised meeting of Democrats earlier this month, Bayh aired his grievances and asked bluntly: “Why should the Democratic Party be trusted? And are we willing to make some of the tough decisions to actually head this country in a better direction?”
Lame, vague and false answers poured forth at that meeting, but Bayh answered the questions himself this week.
By quitting.