Obama Wants Lieberman To Remain In Democratic Caucus

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Nico Pitney and Sam Stein
Obama Wants Lieberman To Remain In Democratic Caucus
November 10, 2008 02:45 PM


President-elect Barack Obama has informed party officials that he wants Joe Lieberman to continue caucusing with the Democrats in the 111th Congress, Senate aides tell the Huffington Post.

Obama's decision could tie the hands of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has been negotiating to remove Lieberman as chair of the Homeland Security and Government Reform committee while keeping him within the caucus. Lieberman has insisted that he will split from the Democrats if his homeland security position is stripped.

Aides to the president-elect did not return requests for comment. Senate officials were unclear whether Obama would be comfortable with Lieberman maintaining his current committee post.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that he would welcome Lieberman into the GOP, though he has little to offer in terms of committee assignments.

If Lieberman were to continue caucusing with the Democrats without being punished for his campaign conduct -- Democrats say he broke a promise not to campaign negatively against Obama -- the progressive community will undoubtedly be up in arms. For Obama, however, the move may be a shrewd gesture towards reconciliation, in the process taking a potentially taxing political fight off the table.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/obama-wants-lieberman-to_n_142731.html

...not off to a good start, Barack.

Not off to a good start, pabsungenis.

What do you think?

chair. Lieberman can stay in the caucus but he must not keep his committee chair. Lieberman can threaten to bolt to the GOP, but the GOP is in shambles and can only offer empty vanity. Call Lieberman's bluff, Reid!!!

I really don't care if he caucus with the democrats or not.
Face it, he needs to caucus with democrats and vote with them
in order to get his earmarks for his state.

It's nice PR I guess. A gesture that says he is not interested in being partisan but why should any Senator worry about crossing him after Joe gets away with the bullshit that he did? I mean maybe he wins one news cycle over this at the beginning of his term, but over the long haul I'm not so sure this is strategically smart.

I have to say, Barack has a lot thicker skin and tolerance level than I'd have. Given the shitty job Joe did with oversight on DHS, I certainly wouldn't want him running this committee.

The GOP has nothing to offer Lieberman except empty vanity. Call Lieberman's bluff, Reid.

Joe Lie screwed a lot of people, and will continue to do so.
I'd rather have him without a committee and in or gone. He doesn't
deserve to be rewarded, and we don't deserve to be screwed again.

in the White House.

Not everyone will be happy. Too bad.

Hopefully it comes with caveats, like he "WILL" do what the Dems want him to.

Well, I don't like the decision, but I really don't care. Lieberman's just one of 100 now--he has no real power if he loses his chairmanships.

and I have alot of respect for that.

If Joe doesn't like it, tough shit. The republicans have no better deal for him and they are the party out of power.

Joe will have to suck it up or be on the outs completely.

but he doesn't need to be in a position of leadership to do that anyway.

And I wrote to Harry Reid to that effect. But this could be a brilliant strategic move. Basically Obama owns Lieberman, and if he doesn't toe the line, then Obama gets to boot him out, via Reid, when he (Obama) chooses.

You know, folks, I don't think we need to be generally second guessing President-Elect Obama. He ran a damn near flawless campaign, and he knows full well that his "special interest" group is us, and most of what he's going to do is going to be with the American people first and foremost in his mind.

Give it to one of them and then if Joe behaves himself, he can have it back in 2 years.

I hope Obama's got something going on I can't see.

...so we have to put up with this senatorial tumor for another 4 years. For Connecticut to be able to recall Joe Blow, they have to change the state constitution to allow for officeholder recalls.

Just in case anyone was wondering...

which, of course, they can't. US Senators are federal officers. States have no power to recall them. Only the Senate can decide to expel a member.

We need to keep our opponents ideologically and politically confused. Keep Lieberman. More than anything, he is a toady to power. Obama has that now. Even let him keep a chairmanship. Who cares? Just strip the committee of any power.

If Lieberman starts to be a problem in his votes, then he can be dumped.

As you said, Lieberman is a toady to power, O will play him like fiddle.

They even campaigned for him two years after he didn't vote for Bush's reelection. That was smart, because if we had won him over, it would have hurt them. Let's keep Lieberman leashed.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x237738

This needs to go viral.

He would rather have his agenda passed than exact revenge.

that was a huge boondoggle for the Bushies.