The Lieberman legacy.

The Lieberman Legacy

During the next few weeks and months, the Senate and House will put the finishing touches on the first health care reform legislation ever to become law in this country. For those of us who still believe that reform means providing low-cost or no-cost health care to poor and lower-income Americans, the legislation is likely to be a huge disappointment.

But it is a start. Over time it will be improved upon, just as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other significant government programs have been modified and essentially made better in the years since they first became law.

Which brings me to Joe Lieberman.

Five, ten, twenty years from now, Joe Lieberman’s moment in the national spotlight will be over and long forgotten. In 45 years of closely following American politics, I can’t recall a single politician — certainly no statesman — whose moment of greatness came from saying “no” to a domestic program that ultimately improved the life of the American people.

Lieberman’s legacy will be that of the senator who almost killed health care reform, and for the most self-interested reasons. He will only be remembered when historians and political scientists study the history of this legislation. He will be a footnote somewhere.

For a man who had such great potential, the Lieberman legacy is a sad one. It must includes his failure as a vice presidential candidate, his failure as a presidential candidate, and his failure as a Democratic senator from his home state of Connecticut. That his own party disowned him says a great deal about the man.

In this country we remember the doers, the dreamers, the men and women who say “yes,” who put their shoulders to the wheel, and move this nation forward.

Joe Lieberman had a chance to be among that elite group of people. He won’t because he put his ego, his bank account, and his own security ahead of the interests of the people he was supposed to serve.

He will pay the ultimate price in well-deserved obscurity.

Even as a state senator, for Lieberman it’s always been about the money.

Even as a state senator, for Lieberman it’s always been about the money.

With Joe Lieberman, it’s always been about the money.

Back in the mid-1970s I was working as a part-time PR writer for a non-profit day program for the elderly in Norwalk, CT, called Elderhouse. The director called me to say they were getting a visit from an influential state senator and would I drop by to cover the visit.

The state senator, of course, was Joe Lieberman, and he was a very impressive young man. What I remember most, however, was an incident that took place with one of the senior citizens who lived in the building on the Post Road in Norwalk. Lieberman and an old man were standing next to a vending machine. The resident — I believe his name was Harry Wenger — asked Lieberman to buy him a Coke. The senator smiled and said, “Sure!” He reached into his suit pants pocket and pulled out a handful of coins. He dropped a quarter into the machine and presented the resident with a cold can of Coke. We were all very pleased.

Later I spoke briefly with Lieberman as he was leaving to get a quote for my news release. When we were finished, he asked me for a quarter. I wanted to know why he wanted it. He explained that he had paid for the old man’s Coke and expected to be reimbursed. I was too startled to say anything and pulled a coin from my own pocket and gave it to him. I never thought about the incident again until October, 2003.

Let me confess that I do have certain politically suicidal tendencies. A glaring example of this was my support for Joe Lieberman during the 2003-2004 New Hampshire presidential primary season. On his behalf I made some phone calls, went to his events in Manchester and elsewhere. I tried recruiting others to the Lieberman cause, but that — it turned out — was a lost cause.

One dead giveaway was the attendance at Lieberman’s rallies. There wasn’t any. I was there and perhaps a dozen other non-paid New Hampshire supporters were there. That was it. To give the impression of a full house, busloads of state workers and other Democrats from New Haven were shuttled in while the cameras rolled. It was a great show, especially the night that his mother was there. She must have been proud of her son!

By the fall of 2003 Lieberman’s poll numbers in New Hampshire were in the low single digits. Instead of becoming more favorable as people got to know him, his favorability ratings went down. Those of us who were supporting him were working our tails off trying to keep our collective heads above water. One day in October, I called Lieberman’s headquarters to ask about an upcoming event with the candidate. I was told he had left the state for an important Senate vote and it wasn’t clear when he was returning.

What was this “important” vote? Lieberman dumped his campaign to vote himself a Senate pay raise. Technically, it was a vote to table a Russ Feingold amendment that would have made such a pay raise impossible. Lieberman understood that if the amendment failed, he could kiss his $15K raise goodbye.  (Hillary Clinton, by the way, voted against tabling the amendment.)

For me it was the last straw. Aside from the miserable symbolism of a presidential candidate voting for a pay raise when many Americans were still hurting from the Bush recession, it gave me a clear view of Lieberman’s priorities. It also contributed to the awful stereotype of Joe the Jewish Tightwad. Then, all in a flash, I remembered that moment in Norwalk, CT, 25 years earlier when he hit me up for a quarter because he had “splurged” and bought some old man a Coke.

I still have the press release somewhere. It was one my first and for a short time, one of my proudest. Then I got to see Lieberman for who he really was. In the past few days, it has become clearer to others in the media that for Joe Lieberman it was, and still is, all about the money.

Here’s John Farrell and US News about Lieberman caving to special interests on health care reform. Here’s MSNBC on Lieberman getting caught “red-handed” bowing to those interests and changing his position on the Medicare option.

You can watch Lieberman supporting the Medicare option here:

You can also read this story about Lieberman’s campaign contributions from the health care industry.

I think John Farrell got it right: “Who qualifies for the lower circles of hell? How about a politician who abandons interests, party, and constituents, and screws things up for the rest of us just to stroke his ego? How about Joe Lieberman?”

Judge releases man who stormed Hillary’s New Hampshire campaign headquarters.

Leeland Eisenberg, the man who stormed Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Dover, New Hampshire, has been released on bail after being re-arrested shortly before Thanksgiving for violating his parole.

Eisenberg took several hostages during the November 2007 attack using fake explosives. It triggered an hours-long standoff that ended peacefully when he gave up.

According to the Union Leader, on December 11 a judge ordered his release pending a hearing about allegations he violated his probation after getting out of state prison last month. He is accused of failing to charge a GPS tracker he was required to wear, making it hard for probation officials to know where he was.

Public defender Randy Hawkes, Eisenberg’s attorney, said in court this morning that his client was arrested again simply because of who he is. He asked he be released on personal recognizance bail.

“I really believe had it been anyone other than Mr. Eisenberg, he wouldn’t have been held,” he said.

The county attorney general argued unsuccessfully that Eisenberg was “calculating” and should be held on cash bail. The judge disagreed and released Eisenberg on personal recognizance pending a hearing.

The hearing date has not yet been scheduled.