In the last couple of days, the Daily Kos seems to have gone through at least 4 stages of grief over Joe Lieberman being allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Perhaps now the community is sliding into acceptance. I suppose I am too, but for a while I was rather perturbed at first by Barack Obama’s acquiescence toward that end. However, as I looked at the Committee makeup last night, something really caught my attention, and I began to wonder if he may know something that others may have missed (and it certainly would not surprise me, since he seems to do that a lot).
Here is the current makeup of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (Please be advised that this table comes from the U.S. Senate website; I take no responsibility for, and strenuously object to the left column being styled "Democrat" and not "Democratic"):
HSGA Committee Membership
Democrat Republican
Joseph I. Lieberman (CT) Susan M. Collins (ME)
Carl Levin (MI) Ted Stevens (AK)
Daniel K. Akaka (HI) George V. Voinovich (OH)
Thomas R. Carper (DE) Norm Coleman (MN)
Mark L. Pryor (AR) Tom Coburn (OK)
Mary L. Landrieu (LA) Pete V. Domenici (NM)
Barack Obama (IL) John Warner (VA)
Claire McCaskill (MO) John E. Sununu (NH)
Jon Tester (MT)
Bear in mind this is a Standing Committee; it lasts from Congress to Congress and works pretty much independently of the Senate calendar.
So, on January 3, 2009, this is what the Committee will look like:
Democrat Republican
Joseph I. Lieberman (CT) Susan M. Collins (ME)
Carl Levin (MI) Ted Stevens (AK)
(DEFEATED)
Daniel K. Akaka (HI) George V. Voinovich (OH)
Thomas R. Carper (DE) Norm Coleman (MN)
(Fate Uncertain)
Mark L. Pryor (AR) Tom Coburn (OK)
Mary L. Landrieu (LA) Pete V. Domenici (NM)
(RETIRED)
Barack Obama (IL) John Warner (VA)
(PRESIDENT ELECT) (RETIRED)
Claire McCaskill (MO) John E. Sununu (NH)
(DEFEATED)
Jon Tester (MT)
See what’s going on here? The Committee will be losing at least 5, and may lose 6 of its 17 members, and at least 4 of those departing members will be Republicans. No matter what happens to Norm Coleman, about a third of the Committee’s members will be newcomers.
I can see two very plausible outcomes as a result of this change. First, it is certainly possible that with a bunch of newbies on the panel, Senator Lieberman will be able to steamroll his way through every issue and policy for quite a while, meaning he could do some serious damage to any Obama policy initiative he doesn’t like.
Second, however, it is also possible that such an extensive change to the body will rob it of its institutional memory and actually hamper its ability to accomplish anything, at least in the short term. Senator Lieberman may be so busy trying to reorganize he won’t really have that much time to cause mischief.
Perhaps that’s what Barack Obama, from his position as an insider on the Committee (and due to his uncanny ability to observe and evaluate his opponents), knows that others do not: Lieberman may be left floundering for months, and an Administration that acts quickly may be able to achieve what it wants on many important issues with little static from him or his Committee.
I have had my doubts about many of the things that Barack Obama has done over the past two years, and I must say that virtually every time, he has proven that he knows what he is doing. I think I will be willing to wait and see what happens before getting any more concerned with Lieberman.
If, however, the first scenario comes to pass, then the Senate can consider changing the jurisdiction of the Committee, perhaps splitting off the Governmental Affairs part from the Homeland Security part, and leaving Joe with the choice of keeping the standing committee job (Governmental Affairs) or trying to run publicly for a new Homeland Security Committee.