I guess at this point that I don’t think Joe Lieberman is going to respond well to attacks from his left. I’m betting that the more he gets attacked from the left, the more comfortable he gets representing the right. I don’t know if he plans on running for reelection in 2012, but I can’t see him possibly winning the Democratic nomination. So, his reelection plan would appear to be to create a repeat of 2006, where the Republican Party offered only a token candidate in opposition to Lieberman and the Democratic nominee, and they let it be known to the base that they wanted Lieberman to win.
If I’m right, then Lieberman really needs to be more concerned about keeping the right happy than the left. And if he is going to retire in 2012, then the only way to influence him at all is to appeal to his vanity. He will want to be remembered as someone of substance who accomplished big things. I don’t think he can be convinced that he’ll get credit for being a great senator by caving into liberal attack ads. But he might get warm in his pants if he thinks he can get credit for being the deciding vote on climate change legislation or something. Obama probably did the right thing by appealing to the grandeur of the moment rather than asking Holy Joe to do the right thing on the public option. Lieberman wants revenge, but he also wants to be seen as relevant. Well…he’s relevant. So relevant, in fact, that I doubt he will respond well to being poked with a liberal stick.
I’m sick of him.
