When Barack Obama visited Tennessee this Monday, it was to help out Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford, Jr. “You will hear the same things about Harold you heard about me. That he can’t win in Tennessee, it’s a tough Southern state, young black man, it can’t happen,” Obama told the crowd gathered at a rally for Ford’s campaign.

What Obama didn’t mention was what you will hear about Harold Ford, Jr. that you will never hear about Barack Obama. You will hear that Harold Ford, Jr. is a conservative Democrat who often votes along with right wing Republicans in the House of Representatives.

You also will hear that, instead of gaining a seat in Congress on his own merits, Harold Ford, Jr. got his position because of his membership in an influential, yet corrupt, political family. The Fords of Memphis, Tennessee have been plagued by corruption scandals every bit as troubling as the scandals that are rocking the Republicans in Congress.

John Ford, Harold Ford, Jr,’s uncle, has been linked to a bribery scandal. Ford’s aunt Ophelia has been caught in a controversy involving suspicious ballots in her state senate election last year. Ford’s response on Monday to his family’s scandals was to tell his audience, “In spite of all these things they’re saying about me and my daddy and my aunt and my uncle and my party, if you just stand up for me for the next eight months, I promise I will stand up for you every single day.”

We Democrats need to do better than that. At a time when America is looking to Democrats to restore honesty in a corrupt Republican Congress, the last thing we need is to support candidates who have even the appearance of a connection to corrupt political machines. Harold Ford, Jr.’s record as a collaborator with right wing Republicans in the House of Representatives does nothing to reassure that he deserves our support.

When Harold Ford, Jr. has been called upon to stand up for progressive values, he failed to do so. Bringing Barack Obama in to give a speech cannot make up for that.