Joe Lieberman: It's Time to Turn the Page

COMMENTARY | Sen. Joseph Lieberman has decided to not run for re-election in 2012 when his term expires, he announced on Jan. 19. He is a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Lieberman was first elected to the Senate as a Democrat in 1988. Lieberman quit the Democratic Party several years ago and is now an Independent.

In a news conference on Jan. 19, Lieberman offered stories about the Senate that didn't obviously illustrate why he was retiring though he noted that the campaign in 2012 would be tough, but he has been through that experience before. As retirement announcements go this one was difficult to analyze because he didn't note any legislation he was working on that he wanted to see through to fruition. At his televised retirement announcement he capsulized his philosophy of action and legacy with quotes from the Bible which he thought at once clarified his concern for his constituents and delineated his national posture.

Ralph Nader noted in a 2006 article that Lieberman was not concerned about supporting Democratic candidates for Congress. He went on to note the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose agenda included attempting (and succeeding at ) to defeat Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, gave Lieberman a perfect rating on its scale of usefulness to the Chamber of Commerce's agenda.

To my eyes the Democratic Party already showed disfavor with Lieberman as evidenced by him leaving the party and becoming an Independent. In 2000 many still remember that Lieberman ran for vice president while not resigning his Senate seat. His seat would have been easily won by a Democrat in 2004.

Lieberman staunchly defended President George W. Bush's Iraq war effort to the dismay of many Democrats. I see a lack of a mature appreciation for the American public desire for justice in his self-important posturing and his unwillingness even at his retirement announcement to come clean about his true contribution to the common good of the United States. He absolutely supports big business which displaces any effort to form a Democratic voice to support middle class families.

If you happen to be a big-business-related constituent from Connecticut, then middle class values are what he espouses. That is, however, one of 50 states ... as a national spokesperson for the Democratic Party in 2004 his Connecticut-partisanship was not appreciated on a national stage. Every middle class family in America wants a voice of support and he would appear to be displacing that effort.

Many Democrats in America will be happy to see him go back to his beloved-above-all constituents in January 2013.

Resources:

"Lieberman Allies Expected to Attend Retirement Announcement." Retrieved January 20, 2011 from Courant.com website. Http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc...n-announcement-20110119,0,610214.story

Nader, Ralph (August 4, 2006). "Big Business's Favorite Senator East of the Mississippi: Lieberman and the Secret Chamber." Retrieved January 20, 2011 from the Hartford-hwp website. Http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/365.html

Nader, Ralph (August 5-6, 2006). "The Ghosts of Lieberman's Past." Retrieved January 20, 2011 from the Hartford-hwp.com website. Http:www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/364.html