Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel appears on the Morning Joe to discuss possible successors to Senator Evan Bayh and consequences of his retirement for the Democratic Party. Host Joe Scarborough argues that Bayh’s departure leaves Republican Senator Mitch McConell well suited to become majority leader. Vanden Heuvel disagrees. “A lot of Democrats may worry about losing this seat,” she says. “I think you need to focus on the fifty-four, fifty-five senators who are a real majority, if you can work with these filibuster rules, which have been abused to end unnecessary wars and misguided economic policies.”

Vanden Heuvel proposes musician John Mellancamp as a possible replacement–he has had a long track record with working for farmers and demonstrates true populist politics. But beyond Mellencamp, the true problem with the country must come from deep structural changes in the Senate, that must focus on the working middle class. “How do you do bipartisanship with a party that profits from obstructionism and that mugs your agenda?” she says. “How do you do Kum ba yah?”

–Clarissa León