THE GOOD JOE LIEBERMAN

According to an article I found in GoUpState.com, Senator Lieberman is working with fellow Senators Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. to come up with a compromise climate bill that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The article notes that the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman plan includes a cap-and-trade plan for emissions allowances, protections for U.S. businesses from unfair competition, a limit on the price of allowances and protections for consumers and businesses from energy price increases. The Kerry/Lieberman/Graham plan calls for emissions reductions "in the range of 17 percent below 2005 emission levels" by 2020, the level that President Barack Obama proposed in international climate negotiations in Copenhagen.

Their plan has many critics. Frank O'Donnell, the president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch, called the compromise "tremendously disappointing". Many scientists suggest 25 percent to 40 percent reductions of greenhouse gas emission levels for developed countries, which is far more that the 17 percent that the Kerry/Lieberman/Graham compromise proposes.

These are valid criticisms. I'm wary of Graham's support of nuclear power, clean coal and more offshore drilling. I'm glad though that these 3 Senators are trying to work on a climate bill that will reduce greenhouse emissions and hope it gets strengthened. Hopefully Kerry will offer leadership that wasn't not in the health care reform bill. I'm also hoping that environmental activists will go out early for stronger measures and control the terms of the debate, and not let conservative activists take over the debate like they did last August in the town hall forums on health care reform.

Here are two videos. One video has the three Senators talking about their climate bill. The other is a debate in which Senator Joe Lieberman talks at length about the dangers of global warming.

Senator Joe Lieberman has always been a strong supporter of gay rights. Though he doesn't support gay marriage, he has worked to fight against discrimination due to sexual orientation. In the October 11, 2009 article by J. Taylor Rushing for The Hill, Senator Lieberman hopes to push a bill onto the Senate floor that would grant the same benefits to gay federal employees and their spouses as given any married federal employee and their spouse. Benefits include federal health insurance, enhanced dental and vision care, retirement and disability provisions and life insurance and benefits in cases of death or disability.

Senator Lieberman is also working quietly with the White House and LGBT activists to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy in the military. The October 12, 2009 edition of The Advocate believes Lieberman is a strong candidate for carrying the bill given his position on the Armed Services Committee and his strong engagement with the military. Lieberman has been against this policy since 1993, when the policy was first introduced. Here is a video where Lieberman talks about his hopes of overturning Don't Ask Don't Tell.

THE BAD JOE LIEBERMAN

I don't think any Democrat needs to be reminded of examples of the Bad Joe Lieberman. I'm plainly confused as to why Joe Lieberman is opposed to something that he has supported in the past. In the December 15, 2009 edition of The Medical News chronicles the exasperation that many Democrats feel right now with Lieberman over his opposition to any sort of compromise on goverment health care. Here in Everyday Citizen, James Bordonaro wrote a good article on the lengths that the Democrats have gone to to try to appease Lieberman. One of the ironies that a recent yahoo news article points out is that the state that Lieberman represents, Connecticut, approved a statewide public health insurance system with a public option this year.

Here are two youtube videos of past Lieberman positions on the public option and expanding Medicare. One video is from 2006, where Lieberman talks about the public option. The other video is from a few months ago, where Lieberman talks about the expansion of Medicare as an alternative to the public option.

I write this as a person who once supported Joe Lieberman and is deeply disappointed with his flip flop on the compromise on the Medicare expansion. I've tried to understand the path that Lieberman has taken and there are some things I really agree with him on and some things I really disagree with him on. Many years ago I thought Lieberman was a progressive because of his positions on labor, on the environment and on human rights issues are very liberal. But his adamant support of the Bush policies in Iraq and his defense of military detention policies made me realize the error of my ways. Now I think Lieberman is just a political eccentric. Republicans who think Lieberman is one of them will feel just as betrayed as the Democrats do now when they find out just how liberal Lieberman is in most social and environmental issues. I'm surprised the Christian Right hasn't gone after Lieberman for his liberal social views.

Many Progressives want to get ride of Lieberman and the Blue Dog Democrats from political office. I'd feel sad to see Lieberman go, but in instances like this where he has weakened the health reform bill by jettisoning the public option and the expansion of Medicare, and when he tried to stifle Democratic criticism of former President Bush's handling of the Iraq War, I share the same exasperation as my fellow Democrats. If Lieberman flip flops on the expansion of Medicare, which he advocated a few months ago as an alternative to the public option, I think it makes it more difficult for many Democrats to trust him in future matters.

I think it's a mistake though for Progressives to try to expunge all the Blue Dog Democrats. I think one of the strengths of the Democratic Party is its diversity. One of the great weaknesses of the Republican Party right now is the attempt by right wing elements to expunge their party of politicians who are not conservative enough. In this past year, I think the idealogical gap between the conservative Republicans in office now and the moderate and progressive Democrats is too wide and Republicans have been almost uniform in trying to obstruct any Obama initiatives. There are some moderate Democrats I admire, most notably Diane Feinstein.

I have a feeling most Americans are more moderate. Since most moderates stay in the political center, it's the job of progressives to push the political center more towards the left. If the political center moves to the left, the moderates will follow. Rather than expunge the moderates, as the Republican Party is doing, I'd rather progressives work to elect more progressives to political office. I'd rather the progressives negotiate with the moderates, who at least want to get things done, than the Republicans, who are unwilling to do anything that doesn't fit within a pure narrow conservative ideology.