Former Democrat Joe Lieberman is bashing Obama and wondering whether he might be a Marxist, even though Obama once campaigned for him, and suggesting he (Lieberman) might get to give the keynote address at the Republican convention.
These things follow his endorsement of John McCain, and his recent trip with McCain to Iraq and other places in the Middle East, when he had to gently correct the old man every time he couldn't remember the facts.
And that follows Joe's refusal to accept the will of the democratic voters of Connecticut, who rejected him in the 2006 primary, and his decision to go forward anyway and run as an Independent. (How did Gore ever pick this guy to be his running mate in 2000?)
In each of these instances, Lieberman has shown that he has no loyalty or love for the Democratic Party and that he is willing to do anything to stay in the spotlight, no matter how it makes him look and no matter what voters think.
Joe Lieberman is an independent in name only. In his heart he is a Republican and should declare himself so.
I can think of only one reason why he doesn't. It would mean that, come November when the Democrats are likely to win a veto proof majority in the Senate, he would be relegated to a very powerless position.
Were Joe to declare as a Republican now, of course, the Senate would return to Republican hands. He could be a hero, it would seem. But a one-vote majority in the Senate would be no better for the Republicans than it currently is for the Democrats and Lieberman and his Republican brethren know that, so they are probably not pushing for him to switch sides.
Far better for Joe to continue to caucus with the Democrats. This way, the majority Dems are blamed for the Senate problems, the Repugs have a spy, and Joe can still have a committee chairmanship come next election when the Dems are sure to increase their majority.
I think, however, that if the Dems gain five or six seats in the next Congress, they ought to take away Joe's chairmanship. After all, he isn't really a Dem anymore, in name or in sentiment, and so he should not be rewarded. He probably won't go on his own, so it will take Harry Reid and the Democratic leadership of the Senate to take him aside, thank him for his service, and say:
"It's time to go, Joe."
