Like many here, I have had enough of Joe Lieberman. I have had enough of a so-called Democrat who tells me, "It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the Commander-In-Chief for three more critical years. And, in matters of war, we undermine Presidential creditability at our nation's peril." Having moved to Connecticut two years ago, I found myself in a position to be directly involved in doing something about it. All we needed was a candidate.
Rumors swirled over the last year and a half. Some hoped maybe Paul Newman would run. There was even a crazy idea that Martha Stewart could run. Lowell Weicker was a realistic name that came up. But then the word spread that a guy named Ned Lamont was going to give it a try.
So now we had a candidate. I wanted so much to like him. (Of course,I'll admit... Moe Sislak could have run against Joe and I would probably have been on board from day one.) I headed out for a meet and greet with Ned one night after work and came away impressed and inspired. He was smart, well-spoken, yet somewhat humble, considering the guy's worth millions. The transition from being against Joe to for Ned was beginning.
Having seen him up close, it doesn't surprise me that the more people get to know Ned Lamont, the more they like him. But, who is Ned Lamont? The Lieberman camp hopes they can answer that question for you before you can. I have gotten some idea over the last two months, but this article in The Nation this week is a must read for all Connecticut voters. It breaks down the race, but then goes more into the background of who Ned is and what has shaped him such that he has turned out into the great candidate he is. First of all, politics, it seems, is in his blood. (OK... that last sentence was pretty much plagiarized. I should have started the blockquote earlier.)
Lamont's great-grandfather Thomas Lamont, whose partnership with J.P. Morgan created the family fortune that has provided a firm financial base for Ned's business and political endeavors, was one of Woodrow Wilson's negotiators on the Treaty of Versailles. Ned's great-uncle Corliss was a leading figure in the American Civil Liberties Union and a founder of the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee who successfully sued the Central Intelligence Agency in a groundbreaking challenge to domestic spying--and who would no doubt be proud of the Senate candidate's support of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold's proposal to censure Bush for authorizing warrantless wiretaps. Lamont's father, Ted, an economist, helped administer the Marshall Plan after World War II and served with George Romney--Massachusetts Governor Mitt's liberal dad--in Richard Nixon's Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This background apparently shaped the beliefs of Lamont, such that his opposition to the war and Mr. Lieberman's stance on the war, is far from political opportunism.
For his part, Ned Lamont speaks about the broad sweep of American foreign policy over the past century in the familiar language of someone who sat down for family dinners with those who shaped it. So when he talks about the war in Iraq, it is not as a shrill critic but rather as an old-school liberal internationalist who cannot believe that George Bush and Joe Lieberman have rejected diplomacy and smart strategies like containment for cowboy adventurism and neglect of fundamental realities in the Middle East. "This war is way outside the historical norm," Lamont says, arguing that the Administration has adopted "a go-it-alone strategy, a sense that we don't need allies, we don't have to listen to the rest of the world. That's contrary to the American tradition, and it's really not in our self-interest."
The article goes on to describe how Lamont descends from a family of moderate Republicans who felt the party left them in the 90's. Ned, however, has always been a Democrat, inspired by the likes of Bobby Kennedy.
Lamont offers an updated version of the Kennedy message. "Rather than spend $250 million a day in Iraq, we've got to start investing in education," says Lamont, who has volunteered for years as a teacher in a Bridgeport high school and whose best campaign commercials feature former students, all of them African-Americans and Latinos, chanting: "Go for it, Mr. Lamont!"
This common sense approach to foreign policy is winning him support beyond just the blogosphere, no matter how hard the DLC tries to tell us otherwise.
When Lamont offers his critique of "George Bush and Joe Lieberman's" foreign policies to the business owners who have gathered at the Indian restaurant in Stamford, several of whom make favorable references to "the House of Morgan," every head in the room nods. And when he quotes former Connecticut Senator Abe Ribicoff's Vietnam-era suggestion that America is strongest not when it brandishes arms but when it earns the respect of the world, the nodding heads are smiling. "This makes sense to me," says Pravin Banker, director of the Global Financial Network, who had introduced Lamont earlier in the evening. "It's refreshing to hear someone who knows about diplomacy, who recognizes that the US can do a better job of working with the world."
This article provides a small glimpse into who Ned Lamont is. And the more I learn, the more I like. I've said it before here, but it bears repeating over and over: We have an historic opportunity here in this race to defeat not only an entrenched politicians who does not listen to us, but an entire system of insiders that desperately clings to power. We can begin to replace them with decent folks who will respond to us because we were crucial in putting them there. We had that chance with Dean, but I think we failed to realize just how fierce the establishment would fight to hold onto their power. We've been blessed with another chance, and this time we are ready. Let's keep it up for 11 more days and then be ready to celebrate the beginning of a very special year.