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Journeyman
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
Posts: 3753
Location: Wash PA
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 Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:29 pm Post subject: don't worry Joe |
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they will throw you back under the bus in a heart beat!
By MASSIMO CALABRESI Massimo Calabresi – 2 hrs 41 mins ago
Late last year, the White House swallowed its pride and quietly asked Joe Lieberman for a favor. Obama was getting ready to deliver on his campaign promise to repeal the 1993 law barring openly gay members from serving in the military when aides asked the man who turned his back on the Democratic Party to take the lead on pushing for the new policy. In reply, Lieberman told Obamas chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, "Let us know what you want us to do." Emanuel replied with a laundry list: work up polling on the issue; start sounding out moderate Democrats and Republicans to see if they would sign on for the bill; most important, find a GOP co-sponsor.
It has been a long time since liberals have treated Lieberman with anything but scorn; however on an issue dear to many of them, he came through. He announced on Feb. 22 that he would soon unveil his bill repealing the "Don't ask, don't tell" ban, and aides say he is in final negotiations with an unnamed Republican Senator to become a co-sponsor. It is the latest bit of cooperation between the President and the man the party nominated to be its Vice President a decade ago. Over the past year, Lieberman has rounded up votes and searched for compromise on issues ranging from the stimulus bill to energy legislation and has worked behind the scenes to grease the wheels for a few of the Administration's most controversial nominees. (See "Judging Obama's First Year, Issue by Issue.")
For all the public rancor, Lieberman has emerged as one of Obama's more unexpected, if not always reliable, wingmen. "There's a certain irony to this," Lieberman says as he considers the situation in his Senate office. "I have been called in to help the Obama Administration for the very reason that has made some Democrats unhappy with me, which is that I have ongoing, trusting relationships with some of the Republicans."
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