Senator Bayh Stresses Need For Unity

Senator Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat and potential 2008 presidential candidate, emphasized the importance of bringing together the American people across party and ideological lines in a speech at the Harvard Business School (HBS) yesterday afternoon.

The senator told a room of over 100 onlookers that “Washington has just broken down—it is verging on the dysfunctional.”

The HBS Democrats Club invited Bayh to speak at the school less than a week after fellow presidential hopeful Mark Warner, a former governor of Virginia, spoke to several student groups on the Harvard campus.

Now serving in his second term as Indiana senator, Bayh first came to political prominence in the heavily Republican state when he served two terms as governor.

Bayh cited globalization of the economy, fiscal imbalances, energy, and national security as some of the major challenges today that will continue into the future.

For America to address these issues, Bayh said that the federal government must reduce its partisanship “because America is at its strongest and its best, not when it is divided in red and blue states but when it is united.”

For the rest of the hour, Bayh fielded heavily policy-oriented questions from the audience.

“Too many people in my line of work like talking at people rather than talking with people,” he said.

Bayh said the Democratic Party should orient its campaign message to “make it about progress, about what our ideas are, about tomorrow.”

“Frankly, [Republicans] are better at scaring people than we are,” he said.

One HBS student asked about Bayh’s views on the Massachusetts bill passed last week, establishing nearly universal health care coverage.

“I’m inclined to think it’s a good thing,” he said. “Massachusetts may not be exactly analogous to the other 49 states, but I think it is a step in the right direction.”

On the issue of a nuclear-powered Iran, the senator, a member of both the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees, said he was skeptical whether Iran had actually reprocessed uranium.

Bayh said the U.S. should try to pressure Iran with embargoes, although he said there is a low likelihood of success.

After Bayh’s question-and-answer session, several HBS students said they appreciated his openness.

“He took questions at face value,” said Patrick Connelly, a second-year joint JD and MBA student.

Bayh’s father, a former U.S. senator from Indiana, ran in the Democratic primaries for president in 1976 but was defeated by Jimmy Carter.

When The Crimson asked Bayh if he was considering a bid for the White House, he said, “I am thinking about it, but I haven’t decided yet.”

—Staff writer Madeline W. Lissner can be reached at mlissner@fas.harvard.edu