Their moment of truth came when Rahm Emanuel, theWhite House chief of staff and self-styled tough guy from Chicago, urged Senate Majority Leader HarryReid to strip out the most progressive aspects of the proposed health carereform bill in order to appease Lieberman. Unless the Connecticut senator got his way, hethreatened to join a Republican filibusterconniving with a political minorityto kill reforms that a majority of Americans has wanted and needed for decades.
Neither Emanuel nor his boss possesses the courageto call the bluff of the reform opponents and urge a victory for that majoritythrough the legislative process known as "reconciliation," whichallows the Senate leadership to stuff a sock in the mouth of the filibuster.Instead, they have surrendered to the same forces that want nothing more thanto frustrate and ruin them.
Not surprisingly, this spectacle of capitulationevokes disgust among many Democrats, surpassed only by the revulsion they feelas they gaze upon Lieberman's self-satisfied grin. His inconsistency isdesigned not to achieve any principled outcome, but to create turmoil in thelegislative process.
Acting Out of Spite and Self-Interest
He now says, for instance, that Americans between 55and 64 years old must not be permitted to purchase coverage under Medicare, asSenate Democrats wanted. But that is precisely what he endorsed when he ran forvice president with Al Gore in 2000, when he ran for president himself in 2004and as recently as three months ago, when he gave an interview on health carereform to a newspaper in his home state.
Back when he was running for re-election in 2006, hesought desperately to persuade Connecticutvoters that he shared their progressive views despite his support for the Iraq war."I'm saying to the people of Connecticut,I can do more for you and your families to get something done to make healthcare affordable, to get universal health insurance," he proclaimed duringa debate with challenger Ned Lamont. "That's what the Democratic Party isall about."
By now we know that he doesn't really care what theDemocratic Party is all aboutespecially when the issue is achieving reforms ofhealth care that have been a central objective of Democrats throughout hislifetime. He is said to care much more about avenging his defeat by Democraticvoters in the primary three years ago.
But there is no need to speculate on his lowdownmotives. Everyone knows he is a servant of the insurance and pharmaceuticalindustries that have always paid his campaign bills and sometimes maintainedhis spouse, Hadassah, on their payrolls, either directly or indirectly. He isaggressively eager to block legislation inimical to their interests.
While observing the worst expressions of Lieberman'scharacter, the public has learned about the president's defects, as well. Threeyears ago, Obama supported the Connecticutsenator when few liberals would and then defended his senatorial privilegesthis year, even after he had endorsed and campaigned for John McCain and SarahPalin in 2008. Now Lieberman has repaid those favors with spiteand that smart,tenacious, cool leader in the White House did nothing but flinch.
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