President-elect Obama is not stupid. He didn’t get where he is today by being a naive innocent who can’t imagine that Lieberman might betray him. He knows very well that Lieberman has already turned on him once. Even though Lieberman was his mentor when he first entered the Senate, and even though Obama campaigned for Lieberman against Lamont in 2006, Lieberman nevertheless did everything in his power to get McCain elected.
So the question is, why? Why are Obama and the other Democrats sure that Lieberman won’t use his Chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee to attack them? I don’t think Obama would risk allowing Lieberman to remain in such a powerful position if he wasn’t absolutely sure that Lieberman will cooperate with him in the same way he’s cooperated with Bush.
But how could Obama be sure of this? Even if Lieberman gave Obama his word, just how trustworthy is Joe Lieberman? Is there anything in Joe’s past record that might lead Obama to believe that Lieberman could be trusted not to betray him?
Unfortunately, I think there is one good reason why Obama might be prepared to trust Lieberman. Joe Lieberman is a neocon. He has consistently backed hardline Zionist policies in the middle east. He wants the US to crush Iran and Syria. It seems to me that if Lieberman is loyal to anything at all in the world besides himself, he’s loyal to Zionism.
And this assessment of Lieberman’s character worries me, because it suggests that there is a way that Obama can gain Lieberman’s support. If Obama really is prepared to start a war with Iran, if he does give his full support to Israel’s ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians, if he attacks Pakistan and keep thousands of troops in Iraq, then Lieberman probably will become one of Obama’s strongest supporters, and Obama’s decision to help Lieberman retain control of the Homeland Security committee will make sense.
Of course, if Obama does follow this policy, he’ll need all the supporters he can get, because his policies will a) bankrupt the American economy, B) make billions of people hate America, and C) allow the Republicans to defeat him in 2012. But that’s a small price to pay to gain Joe Lieberman’s support.
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Glenn,
Take a chill pill. There is no sign (as in none whatsoever) that Obama has any intention of expanding the GWOT to Iran. The Dim Son is inclined to, but the Pentagon brass told him it’s impossible. The Air Scouts could run a bombing campaign, but there are not enough boots to go it alone.
And go it alone we would have to. Nobody else in the world is singing Bomb Iran with McInsane and the Lieberliar. (Hey, that would make a pretty good name for a band — McInsane and the Lieberliars.)
That leaves open the question of how Obama can trust Lieberliar. Is he a naif? (I don’t think so — he ran a beautiful campaign and was ready for the swamp Gidget and Geezer threw his way.) Does he really, really, really believe in this post-partisan stuff? (I don’t know. Maybe, and that would make him something of a naif. But he ran a hellishly effective campaign for someone who doesn’t believe in partisanship.) Or, maybe, just maybe, he’s as smart as he appears to be and he either A) believes he has some lock on the Lieberliar, or B) is going to take the advice that Unka Karl gave the Dim Son about Jim Jeffords (let him have what he wants now, we’ll fuck him later.) Darth Cheney wasn’t bright enough to follow that advice, and the ‘thugs lost control of the Senate.
We aren’t going to know the truth for a while yet.