Bingo with Bayh

by Shaker koach

Apparently now that Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) is leaving the Senate, he can't stop yapping about the partisanship and gridlock gripping Washington and causing good centrists like him to search out employment elsewhere.

CNN has posted a short story recapping Senator Evan Bayh's appearance on State of the Union, and some of Bayh's remarks are priceless—meaning that I wouldn't pay a penny for them.

"Our politics in Congress has become tribal in some ways. We have the tribe of the Democrats and tribe of the Republicans," Bayh said.

This sort of "tribalism" argument angers me, wherever I stumble across it, as if societies organized into tribes are inherently combative and incapable of cooperation for the greater good. There's a further implication that only modern, civilized (white) folks know how to get along, how to work together, how to solve problems, how to be reasonable—even as it simultaneously ignores that modern, civilized (white) folks have tribes of their own, organized around ideas, religions, hobbies, heritage, particular kinds of wealth and access.

And Bayh doesn't stop there.

In discussing partisanship, [Republican and former House member Susan] Molinari said that "women have a tendency to band together a little bit more than the men."

Bayh interjected: "It's testosterone poisoning; it's not our fault."

This exchange is not only misogynistic—only women are capable of communicating and working together, suggesting that they are incapable of being tough and standing strong on their issues—but also insulting to men, as the flip side, of course, is that men are only capable of fighting and posturing, not getting along and solving problems.

But there's more in Bayh's statement: "It's not our fault." So now he's refusing responsibility, blaming the lack of problem-solving on testosterone. You know, it's amazing just how powerful testosterone must be. Of course, I don't really get it, with my poor lady-brain worrying about how to band together, but gosh, testosterone sure seems important and powerful. It's also amusing that Bayh claims poisoning, as if one could have too much testosterone.

A lot of Bayh's colleagues have too much of something—but I'm going to go with "privilege," rather than testosterone.