2 liberals who are smarter than me, and their thoughts on Lieberman
I know I promised I had given my last thought. I have. These are some other people’s thoughts; go check out these posts from around the liberal blogosphere.
That said, if you want to squint really hard, there is a potential upside to the way things played out. It’s pretty clear from the statements of various parties, including Lieberman himself, that Obama’s expressed desire to bury the hatchet was instrumental in allowing Lieberman to retain his chairmanship. Obama didn’t have to do this. Lieberman campaigned for his opponent and said a lot of unfair things about Obama during the campaign. If Obama had allowed Lieberman to be stripped of his chairmanship, no one would have blamed him.
Everyone on Capitol Hill and in the press corps knows this. So, in a very real sense, Lieberman is now beholden to Obama
Related posts:Yes, Obama will win plaudits for being bipartisan and moderate and sensible and whatnot, and the usual suspects will take the opportunity to claim the left is dead. But before you despair, think about what would have happened had Lieberman been stripped of his chairmanship and forced from the caucus. We like to say that Lieberman would then become just another Republican, but we know better: Lieberman would still have been a media darling, the Democrat Too Moderate to Stay a Democrat. Throughout the next four years, Lieberman would have been invited on Fox and CNN to gravely intone as to why his ejection from power was proof that the Democrats had gone to far. I can hear him saying, “I didn’t leave the party — the party left me” ad infinitum, and to Joe and Jane Bagadonutz, it might even sound somewhat accurate.
Far from punishing Lieberman, he would have been liberated to be the complete douchebag that we know him to be. And make no mistake — he would have been more in demand than ever.
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Tags: Joe Lieberman
Congress, US Senate | 
Jeff Rosenberg | November 19, 2008
By Mark Gisleson, November 20, 2008 @ 10:29 am
Obama didn’t say not to punish Joe, he just said not to kick him out of the caucus.
Just wait. Joe will still be on ALL the Fox shows, but now he’ll be the representative of the Democratic party and will speak for all of us. And he’ll stab us in the back on every cloture vote, just wait and see.
Far better to have stripped him of his major chairmanship and then let him prance about the Fox shows wearing his true colors: Republican red.
Mark Gisleson’s last blog post..So NOW will Congress do something about CEO pay?
By Jeff Rosenberg, November 20, 2008 @ 2:39 pm
I will eagerly wait and see. I sure hope you’re wrong. As I’ve written, I hope the Dems leave themselves an out, just in case you’re right.