HolyJoe's diminishment

As our readers know from my past blogs, I have an intense dislike of Joe Lieberman. One reason is his sanctimoniousness; hence, "HolyJoe."

I was outraged that the Senate Dems let him keep his chairmanship of Homeland Security, which I saw as kowtowing to HolyJoe's threat to have a temper tantrum and go join the Repubs if they didn't. I know the importance of the 6o vote filibuster-proof majority; but my rage was such that I was willing to let that go. Call his bluff. Just say No, and force him to decide if he really wants to join the losing side.

Yes, I know that Obama let it be known that he wanted HolyJoe to stay in the Dem Caucus, altho he didn't say (at least not publicly) that he should be allowed to keep his chair. I had about come to terms with that, thinking that Obama is a bigger man than I am and, quite properly, more interested in getting his agenda passed than in racking up vengeance.

A blog by Bob Cesca on Huffington Post a couple of days ago gave me a new perspective on it, however. He excoriates HolyJoe for his negative campaigning against Obama, especially questioning his patriotism. To me, that was unforgivable.

But then Cesca addresses HolyJoe directly, saying "you think you got away with it, right?":

Not so fast.

I submit to you, Senator Lieberman, that you were punished yesterday more than you realize. . .

In sharp contrast to your behavior, President-elect Obama hasn't shown any predilection for pettiness or disloyalty, nor has he undermined his allies for the sake of political expedience. He's proved himself to be a man of great character. . . .

You, on the other hand, have shown an unapologetic contempt for the party that once nominated you for the vice presidency -- . . . . You've betrayed your fellow liberals to settle a political score, Senator. . . .

This is behavior President-elect Obama doesn't appear to be capable of. Because he's clearly better than you. In fact, it's not difficult to hypothesize that had you possessed a fraction of his political instincts or any small measure of his morality, you would absolutely not be in this position, Senator.

See, by allowing you to keep your precious chairmanship -- by letting you off the hook -- President-elect Obama, through his political bigness, punished you without punishing you. He beat you yesterday, Senator. He beat you because he let you be you, and underscored it with his demonstrably better angels and strength of character.

In the final analysis, the hard reality is that by not choosing retribution, he made you look...

...small.

And that, Senator, is good enough for me.

Cheers!
Bob Cesca

Now that almost makes it tolerable for me. When you add that this also gives the Dems the upper hand for making demands on him for votes or for actually doing something useful with his committee -- maybe it is tolerable. Just as long as they keep him away from TV cameras. I don't want to have to look at HolyJoe's kewpie doll face ever again.

Ralph