Since Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to rise above petty partisanship, it was probably unrealistic to expect to see Joe Lieberman marched up the Capitol steps, publicly humiliated by his colleagues and expelled from the Democratic Senate majority.
But don’t think the Democrats in the Senate let Lieberman escape unscathed. No, they did not. As the result of his apostasy, Lieberman was removed as chairman of the influential Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection Subcommittee. However, he pledged to continue to serve as a humble subcommittee member and he will be second to none in finding private sector and consumer solutions to global warming and wildlife protection.
And lest anyone forgets, Joe Lieberman remains a Democrat, as the Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid forcefully put it. But is he?
In what could be the final four years of his political career — he will be 70 when his current term ends in 2012 — it’s hard to imagine Lieberman becoming a party regular.
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A short trip down Lieberman Lane reveals the senator’s irregular, semi-Republican ways have always paid off for him, especially in his home state. He first ran for the Senate in 1988 to the right of the Republican incumbent, Lowell Weicker, and won with 49.7 percent of the vote to Weicker’s 49 percent, thanks to the help of many prominent Republicans, including the conservatives’ patron saint, the late William F. Buckley of Stamford and Sharon.
And when freshman Senator Lieberman arrived in Washington for the inauguration of the first President Bush in January 1989, one of his first stops was a victory celebration being held by Connecticut’s Republicans, who were delighted to see the new Democratic senator from their state and greeted him as their hero.
Connecticut Republicans would always be there for good old Joe at election time, challenging his run for a second term with the always dangerous Jerry Labriola and his third term with the soon-to-be-convicted child abuser Phil Giordano. And finally, when Lieberman had to run as an independent in 2006 against primary winner Ned Lamont, the Republicans responded with a casino card counter named Alan Schlesinger, who amassed 9 percent of the vote after Karl Rove extended Lieberman his best wishes.
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Throughout his 20 years in Washington, Lieberman posed as the heavily burdened nonpartisan, agonizing over controversies as he decided what was best for the country, also known as Lieberman.
In 1991, when Clarence Thomas was picked for the Supreme Court by the first George Bush as “the best qualified judge†in America, Lieberman hailed the unimpressive conservative for his “strength of character, independence of mind and intellect generally.†Then he waited off the Senate floor until the necessary 50 votes had been cast in Thomas’ favor before voting against him.
In 1995, when California voters were considering Proposition 209, which banned affirmative action in state business, the senator from Connecticut butted in and said, “Affirmative action is dividing us in ways its creators never could have intended.†But as Al Gore’s running mate a bit later, he told the Congressional Black Caucus, “I have supported affirmative action, I do support affirmative action and I will support affirmative action.â€
He had become Gore’s vice presidential nominee mainly because of his early attacks on Clinton’s conduct in the Monica Lewinsky affair — before casting his vote against impeaching the president. Then, when Gore lawyers were battling the Florida vote count, Lieberman went on a Sunday interview show to condemn challenges to servicemen’s absentee ballots, two days after Gore had done just that.
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There’s no need to recount Lieberman’s more recent sins as a “bipartisan†and a kissing cousin of George W. Bush through the Iraq War and the McCain campaign, but the way he has run the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee since becoming chairman after the 2006 Democratic victory is worth recalling.
The committee is charged with overseeing all branches of government, “including the possible existence of fraud, misfeasance, malfeasance, collusion, mismanagement, incompetence, corruption or unethical practices, waste, extravagance, conflicts of interest,†etc., etc.
Since assuming responsibility for all of the above, Chairman Lieberman has declined to do much investigating of the Bush administration, especially Iraq, but not just Iraq.
He did nothing about the American tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina, expressing his disdain for what would be a “gotcha†investigation. Then, when other Democrats were calling for an investigation into the Blackwater security contractor’s involvement in the killing of 17 Iraqis or a look at former Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root’s shoddy work, Lieberman explained, “We don’t like to do investigating, just to see who is at fault.â€
It will be interesting to see if the Lieberman committee exhibits greater energy in overseeing the Obama administration.
Meanwhile, John McCain has indicated he will be running for the Senate from Arizona in two years and we can be sure that by the time McCain gets to Phoenix, Lieberman will be waiting, criticizing McCain’s “Democrat opponent†for being inexperienced, but hesitating to call him a Marxist.
Dick Ahles is a retired journalist from Simsbury. E-mail him at dahles@hotmail.com.
