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Lieberman's motivation?

by: rambler american

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 20:03:49 PM EST
Robert Parry has an interesting article with speculation about Lieberman's destruction of the HCR. Granted it is speculation, but it is an angle I've not seen before and the author may well be right.
http://www.opednews.com/articl...
Joe's raison d'etre is his support for Israel.
Mark Vogel, chairman of the pro-Israel National Action Committee, once said, "Joe Lieberman, without exception, no conditions " is the No. 1 pro-Israel advocate and leader in Congress. There is nobody who does more on behalf of Israel than Joe Lieberman."
Is it possible that Lieberman's obstructionist behavior doesn't relate to Connecticut's insurance industry or to his political ego the two most cited explanations but rather to a calculation that he can use his leverage on health care to limit the pressure that President Barack Obama can put on Israel to make concessions on a Mideast peace plan?
rambler american :: Lieberman's motivation?
It's difficult to otherwise explain his total 180 turn on expansion of Medicare which he recently supported but now famously threatened to filibuster. Parry contends that Joe is attempting to weaken Obama in hopes that
A broken Obama could be easier to manipulate regarding Mideast peace talks and Iran...If Lieberman succeeds in sinking Obama's chief domestic priority health care reform or waters it down so much that it alienates Obama from his liberal base, Obama may find himself essentially the captive of the neocons, needing their blessing to maintain any political viability in Washington.

Lieberman has been careful not to connect his disruptive behavior on health-care reform to his support for Israel, but there can be little doubt that a chastened Obama, either defeated on health care or forced to sign a bill that liberals will view as a betrayal, will have much less political capital to expend in applying pressure on Israel.

A hobbled Obama won't be able to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt expansion of West Bank settlements or to take other steps that might lead to a Palestinian state. Obama also could be pushed around himself if Israel itself an undeclared nuclear power decides to launch airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.

None of which serves to endear Lieberman to me any more than what I previously assumed were his motives; to wit, retribution for the Democratic Party's lack of support of his Senate candidacy or a cynical attempt to inflate his ego by holding the entire country hostage. He's still a nasty bitter little man.
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Lieberman's motivation? | 23 comments
No. (0.00 / 0)
This has nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with the last election and the next election.
Happy Hannukah and all (4.00 / 1)
but I'm listening.

There is a logic here. Hurt Obama and he is off Netanyahu's back.

www.KusterforCongress.com  

[ Parent ]
No, there is no logic here. (4.00 / 1)
What there is is an unreasonable attempt to make Lieberman's personal political vendettas a knock at Israel.

I'm a strong supporter of Israel and a skeptic of Netanyahu (kind of like how you can love America and dislike Bush...), but that has nothing to do with this.  Besides, even a weak President can pretty much do whatever he wants with respect to non-treaty foreign policy.

[ Parent ]
Regardless of your sentiment (0.00 / 0)
There is a plausibility.

A wise farmer once told me. "Think Machiavelli."

www.KusterforCongress.com  

[ Parent ]
That's not Machiavelli. (0.00 / 0)
There are two options here:

1. Lieberman wants to hurt the President because he's bitter
2. Lieberman wants to hurt the President in order to damage the President's ability to operate on a completely unrelated foreign policy issue over which the executive branch has carte blanche

The theory isn't impossible, but it's irrational to assume, given the alternative.

[ Parent ]
More options: (4.00 / 1)
3. Lieberman is vain and wants to remind the political universe that it revolves around him.

4. Lieberman wants to hurt the President in order to damage the President's ability to operate with anything approaching carte blanche on any issue, completely unrelated or not, and to deter the President from doing anything on any issue that might ruffle the feathers of the mighty Joe Lieberman.

5. All of the above.

I think it's irrational not to assume #5.

[ Parent ]
#3 = #1 (0.00 / 0)
As for #4, when I said President Obama has carte blanche with respect to Israel policy, it wasn't a political calculation.  It's a constitutional truism.
[ Parent ]
Technically? Yes, Actually? Not quite. (4.00 / 2)
The President's diplomatic choices are not effectively his alone, express constitutional provisions notwithstanding.

He's pretty free to follow his expressed policy with regard to Israel, but just imagine the firestorm and pushback if he tried to fully normalize relations with Cuba.  Or, hell, Abkhazia  (Though the latter might be worthwhile just to see  John McCain's head explode.)

Just because it's entirely within a president's constitutional portfolio doesn't mean that significant and effective pressure can't be applied, or that his ability to operate can't be hampered.

[ Parent ]
You're twisting my words. (0.00 / 0)
Presidents can't normalize relations with countries against acts of Congress.  The Cuban embargo is statutory, he couldn't do that.

It isn't just the Constitution as a document.  It's the nature of the Presidency.  The President's approval ratings and his party's membership in Congress have no impact on his ability to control US foreign policy with respect to Israel.

But that's off point.  The point is that this has nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with Joe Lieberman's personal vendettas.

[ Parent ]
I believe (4.00 / 2)
that Lieberman knows in his desiccated little heart that he will not be re-elected in 2012. Likely he will announce his retirement.

...the Doo Dah Man once told me you've got to play your hand. Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay 'em down.
[ Parent ]
Not his own election (4.00 / 1)
He wants to punish the President and the Democratic Party, because he's bitter.
[ Parent ]
No Way (0.00 / 0)
Lieberman is the ultimate narcissist. He will never willingly walk away from the spotlight.

He will run as an independent or Republican in 2012, and if people aren't paying close attention he will win again.  

[ Parent ]
I think he's headed for the Dick Armey territory n/t (0.00 / 0)


"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg
[ Parent ]
Or share a ticket (0.00 / 0)
with Sarah?
The mind recoils!

...the Doo Dah Man once told me you've got to play your hand. Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay 'em down.
[ Parent ]
"It's unlikely that I would run as a Republican" (0.00 / 0)


www.KusterforCongress.com  
[ Parent ]
If he runs (0.00 / 0)
it will be as a nasty little troll. Come to think of it, he's run as one of those every time.

...the Doo Dah Man once told me you've got to play your hand. Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay 'em down.
[ Parent ]
I cannot stand his whiney voice. (0.00 / 0)
Like fingernails on a blackboard.

...the Doo Dah Man once told me you've got to play your hand. Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay 'em down.
[ Parent ]
Wasn't this the guy (4.00 / 1)
who was elected Vice President in 2000?!

"He who loves correction, loves knowledge.  He who hates reproof is stupid." - Proverbs 12:1


No, but (0.00 / 0)
he became de facto President in 2009.

...the Doo Dah Man once told me you've got to play your hand. Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay 'em down.
[ Parent ]
I'm guessing Al Gore would really appreciate a mulligan on that decision (n/t) (4.00 / 1)

[ Parent ]
About the only upside to the 2000 election fiasco (0.00 / 0)
is that had the USSC not interfered and Gore had actually been President, we might have had Joe vs John in 2008. There would have been no lesser of those two evils.  

...the Doo Dah Man once told me you've got to play your hand. Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay 'em down.
[ Parent ]
Lieberman socks (4.00 / 3)

THAT (0.00 / 0)
is awesome.

...the Doo Dah Man once told me you've got to play your hand. Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay 'em down.
[ Parent ]
Lieberman's motivation? | 23 comments
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