If, as Keith Olbermann reported tonight and Howard Fineman confirmed, Barack Obama has whispered to Harry Reid his desire to keep Joe Lieberman in the Democratic caucus, then some of us may be tempted to claim that our President-elect has taken the No-Drama-Obama mantra one step too far.
Why? Because history is predictive of the future. And here's what we know of history:
- After losing the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, Lieberman pulled the "Connecticut for Lieberman" party out of his ass because it was politically opportunistic to do so.
- After promising the opposite, Lieberman went out of his way to aggressively campaign against Barack Obama, feeding the same frenzy of fear that we normally assign only to Sarah Palin, because it was politically opportunistic to do so.
Joe Lieberman is all about Joe Lieberman -- not about Connecticut, or about Democrats, or about Republicans, or about Independents, but about Joe Lieberman. And that, more than anything, sits in contradiction to the predominant "we" Barack Obama's rhetoric.
But...
Barack Obama and Harry Reid think that Joe Lieberman's "one more vote" is what's best for the country -- one step closer to a filibuster-proof majority that could, conceivably, serve to silence the exact same party that Joe Lieberman campaigned to put in the White House.
It's like asking someone if you can borrow their car, and then promptly running them over with it.
Joe Lieberman was a weapon against Democrats because he wanted a VP nod or a cabinet post. If Barack Obama gets his way, Joe Lieberman will be a weapon against Republicans because of this simple fact: for Lieberman to caucus with the Republicans would be to guarantee a loss in Connecticut in 2012.
It's not about committee chairmanships. It's about Joe Lieberman not having nearly the leverage he wants us to think he has. We fell for it and wrote a zillion diaries. Barack Obama didn't fall for it.
It's brilliant. The most demeaning thing you can do to an opportunistic is to turn him into a pawn with no real remaining moves. And as much as I despise Joe Lieberman, Barack Obama is right.