While the nation is in crisis, Conservative Democrats are busy building a new bridge to a mythical place where everyone gets along

Evan Bayh wants to be in charge of something. He's tried the Democratic Leadership Council, but that group is tanking. He'd like to be president, but his campaign couldn't get off the ground. He would have settled for V.P., but there were too many corporate conflicts. So, he's set up his own group of so-called moderates, who are actually more like conservatives, in the Senate. Now that he's officially a "leader," today, Bayh along with two of his sidekicks, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post titled, "Building Bridges on The Hill." This is just another bridge-to-nowhere idea from the corporate-supported Democrats who have no problem undermining Obama's agenda. They put their interests and egos first:

As moderate leaders, it is not our intent to water down the president's agenda. We intend to strengthen and sustain it. Moderation is not a mathematical process of finding the center for its own sake. Practical solutions are practical because they offer our best chance to make a difference in people's lives today without forcing our children to pick up the tab tomorrow.

The stakes are too high for Democrats to fear a policy debate. Such debates produce better legislation. On nearly all important votes, a supermajority of 60 senators will be needed to pass legislation. Without Democratic moderates working to find common ground with reasonable Republicans, the president's agenda could well be filibustered into oblivion.

Um, when was the last time there was a productive debate in the Senate? And, um, where are those reasonable Republicans? Bayh is living in a world doesn't exist anymore. From what I can tell, the bridge these folks are building is just a place for them to negotiate with themselves. That's a classic move from this new spineless caucus. We were hoping those days of caving in to the GOP were over when the Democrats had such big wins last November. Not to be.

The Republican Party wants Obama to fail -- and they are unabashed about it. And, the true result of this cabal of "moderate" Democrats, while negotiating with themselves, is to abet the GOP and undermine the Obama agenda.

Bayh is proving our point. See, at the same time Bayh is purporting to be a great man of the moderates, he's been doing the bidding of the banking industry to water down the mortgage cram down bill, which has passed the House. Jane Hamsher has been dogging his activity on this:

The person pushing for a "narrower" cramdown bill, blocking the House version and reported to be writing his own?

Some Senate Democrats, including Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, continue to push for ways to narrow the bill, encouraged by the banking industry, which says the legislation would drive up the cost of credit.

You can bet Bayh is being encouraged by the banking industry (you know, because the banking industry is doing so well right now everyone should listen to them.) This is happening, as Jane notes, even as Bayh's home state, Indiana, is suffering a huge foreclosure problem. The original House-passed bill could benefit his own constituents, but Bayh is siding with bankers. There doesn't have to be a narrowing of the bill, but Bayh and his crew are doing it anyway. Negotiating with themselves, again.

Now, Bayh has been encouraged by the banking industry before. He did vote for the bankruptcy bill back in 2005 as did every Republican and a slew of other Democrats including the other "moderates" like Carper (DE), Landrieu (LA), Lincoln (AR) and Nelson (NE). Nothing showed love for the financial services industry like that vote. See, instead of regulating the banks, which were running amok, they put the burden on the little guy. But, no worries, these "moderates" now really want to help Obama. Right.