The Senate needs 60 votes to pass a health care bill, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is one of several '60th votes' the Democrats need in order to seal the deal. But the independent Senator from Connecticut has a list of demands he wants met before pledging his support... demands which contradict plans he endorsed as recently as three months ago. We talk with David Kirkpatrick, of The New York Times, and Colin McEnroe, host of WNPR's The Colin McEnroe Show in Connecticut, about Lieberman’s ever-evolving role in American politics.
[See this clip from an interview Lieberman did with the Connecticut Post in September, via Greg Sargent's The Plum Line]
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The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [1]
Your discussion of Lieberman failed to consider the following theory, which I think deserves to be heard.
Lieberman (D-Tel Aviv) knows that if Obama accomplishes significant health-care reform, he will be in a much stronger position to resist the inevitable onslaught of the Israel lobby when the time comes to exert serious pressure on Israel to make peace with the Palestinians. By being obstructionist on the health-care issue, even to the point of being inconsistent with his past stances, Lieberman endangers the success of reform, and helps ensure Obama's continued weakness and inability to resist the lobby. You mentioned cynicism and spite, but you neglected the possible implications of the Lieberman's dual loyalty. He is not merely a citizen of the US; he is also a citizen of Israel.
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