EDITORIAL: Bayh's exit shows Senate dysfunction

Evan Bayh said goodbye to the Senate because the job is a waste of his time. The Indiana Democrat wasn't exactly that blunt about why he's so disillusioned with the Senate. But he said so many members put ideology and partisanship ahead of solving problems that it has become incapable of doing the people's business. It's a damning indictment.

Bayh isn't alone in opting not to run for re-election in a year shaping up as toxic for incumbents of both parties. But unlike some others who looked like losers in November, he probably could have kept his job. He won more than 60 percent of the vote in two previous Senate races, has $13 million on hand and a legacy in a dad who was a three-term senator.

Bayh's retirement may be part of some grander personal calculation, or it may be prompted by his wife's business entanglements. But he put his finger on something important. The Senate has become dangerously dysfunctional, when the nation desperately needs effective government. Disappearing jobs, crumbling infrastructure, crushing debt, tottering Social Security and Medicare, an oil addiction and a crippling inability to solve big problems have the public really worried.

In the past, pragmatists in the political center would have prevailed. Not now. Little wonder that more voters are independents, and two in three people polled say incumbents don't deserve re-election. The nation needs a healthier political culture. And it needs a better Senate. hN