What the GOP Could Learn from Lieberman

Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Wednesday January 19, 2011

Joe Lieberman's retirement provides a great opportunity for the GOP to reflect on the benefits of big tents and broad coalitions.

Joe Lieberman's retirement is a great time to reflect on the benefits of big tents and broad coalitions. For many liberals and Democrats, Lieberman is the closest thing they have to a "DINO", a Democrat in Name Only. This is a perfectly understandable opinion to have! When you endorse and campaign with the opposition party's presidential nominee, you are likely to annoy a lot of your own party members. It’s not surprising that Slate has a piece up by Emily Bazelon where she spends almost a thousand words explaining "Why I loathe my Connecticut senator". If you only cared about fealty to Team Red or Team Blue, then Lieberman was a bad player. If you cared about achieving domestic policy changes, though, Lieberman came through.

Lieberman's leading role on repealing “Don't Ask Don't Tell” can't be understated, if he had not persistently pushed to repeal the policy before the new Congress, it would have stayed on the books even longer. Lieberman also came through on the healthcare bill despite ending the public option, and that is a real domestic policy change that the country is going to be stuck with. The conservative movement has now put all its marbles into the basket of repealing the healthcare law by using the Supreme Court to take an antiquated view of the commerce clause.

Lieberman benefitted from Connecticut laws that allowed him to run as an independent on the ballot after losing the Democratic primary and avoid having to wage a write-in campaign. If Connecticut had the same laws as Delaware, history would have been different. In that respect he was lucky.

However, the fact that the Democrats kept Lieberman in the caucus stands in stark contrast to the treatment of Mike Castle, Bob Bennett, and Arlen Specter. The Delaware Senate seat has been handed to the Democrats on a silver platter, Bennett was replaced by a Senator who thinks Wickard v. Filburn was wrongly decided, and Arlen Specter voted for the healthcare bill. (Senator-elect Pat Toomey does not get to retroactively change his predecessor’s votes.)

Liberals may counter that on the issue of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lieberman didn't come through, but if foreign policy is your main concern, than you should be more frustrated with President Obama (as Glenn Greenwald, in a testament to his consistency, is!)

Lieberman stands as proof that policy change and governance is best achieved in this country when both parties understand that politics is about compromise and working to get the best possible outcome given the situation you have, as opposed to the Jim DeMint way of actively working to marginalize the size of your party down to its core supporters.

Follow Noah on Twitter: @noahkgreen

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