The Joe Lieberman enigma

By

Dr. Mahmoud S. Audi

To understand senator Lieberman of connecticut, it is helpful to know where his loyalty lies. It is not where it is normally expected to be. It is not to the people who elected him to represent them and to stand for the interest of their state, in the Senate; it is not to the Democratic Party which gave him the Chairmanship of an important senate committee, even though he had campaigned against their presidential nominee, Barak Obama, in 2008; it is not to America and its standing as the greatest country on Earth: its economy is second to none; its military is ready for peace and ready for war; and its moral compass lights the way for the rest of the world.

His loyalty is to himself, for his own grandiosity and promotion; to the health insurance companies and to the drug maker corporations; to the continued occupation of the Palestinian land by the Israeli military; and to perpetual wars against Islam and Muslim countries.

His stand as the king maker (a boost to his egocentricity) in the debate of the Health Reform bill is as expected to exact concessions as a price for his needed and deserved vote. The gain is not necessarily to benefit the people who had elected him to represent their state.
One way to deal with such an egomaniac is for the timid leader of the Senate to exercise some leadership and tell the Senator that he would strip him of the Chairmanship of the committee which he loves so much; he would not be supported by the Democratic Party in Connecticut; and the annual billions of military aid to Israel would be reduced.

But Lieberman has been around for a long time. He knows how to abuse our democracy. He might also be working on a long term strategy. As a starter, we know that he had campaigned for the Republican nominee, McCain, against the Democratic nominee, Barak Obama, and he spoke at the Republican Convention of 2008 encouraging voter to vote for his long time ally to defeat Obama and the Democrats. He is one of the most aggressive senatorial supporters of the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian land and the oppression of the Palestinian people. Unlike Obama he is a war monger and his finger is always on the trigger—such a person is a trigger happy maniac.

Obama made it clear during the campaign of 2008 that if elected he will give diplomacy a chance; he will respect the United Nations and its institutes; the United States will abide by the protocols of the Geneva Convention on the conduct of wars and the treatment of war prisoners. And after he won the election he made it clear that Islam is the not the enemy, and Islam is not to be feared, by his speeches, in Cairo, Egypt and in Ankara, Turkey, and through a reporter interview for a television station in an Arab country, among other venues.

He also promised the Arab and Muslim leaders that he will work hard to help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This cannot be achieved without convincing the Israelis that the ways of peace are more beneficial to them and to all the other parties: the Israelis, the Palestinians, the Arabs and Muslims, the United States and the West, and for World peace. Israel with its military might and military superiority will not budge. The only entity in the world that might have the chance to move Israel to reason is the President of the United States. This weapon is very simple and might be very effective: let the leader of the Senate tell the senator that the President would reduced the military aid to Israel, if he does not cooperate. Lieberman and his elks in the Senate might be able neutralize such as a potentially effective tool.

Lieberman also knows that Obama, unlike other presidents, is a hands-on president, especially on the major issues of his presidency. Lieberman knows that he cannot influence Obama to change policy, as he had influenced other Presidents including Clinton and W. with such a relationship what is left to Lieberman to protect Israel from possible modification of the US policy toward the Middle East, is to become the obstructionist we have seen.

This is what he hopes to accomplish. Defeat the health reform bill and all other major initiatives of the President, to declare the failure of the Obama presidency, and to make him easy to defeat come 2012. Then celebrate a new incompetent president (the Republicans have smart people among them but they do not get nominated) who will be handled by right wing ideologues.

Lieberman pays lip service to America but his stance on basic issues shows the real face of the senator from Connecticut. I do not need health reform for myself. But I am for it if it will prevent people from dying because they are poor, or prevent them from experiencing catastrophes in their lives, because they cannot afford the ever expensive medical care in this great country.