I will lay my cards on the table up front here-I supported Joe Lieberman against Ned Lamont in 2006. I felt that Lieberman had been given a bum deal by many on the left and felt that despite his view on the war, he was the better candidate. I have since then become as disgusted as many of you have been over his actions towards Obama and the Democratic Party. His speech at the RNC was especially egregious and worthy of the hate doled at him for that.
That being said, I don't think turning him into a martyr for the right is going to do anyone-the Democratic led senate or Barack Obama-much good.
For starters, Obama has already made it clear that he has little interest in seeking vengence against Lieberman. This is incredibly smart and shrewd. The last thing someone who was elected as a post partisan candidate needs is an immediate rebuke of those principles.
Secondly, even though the chances of getting to 60 remain pretty slim, it's still within the realm of possibility. And without Lieberman, that hope becomes zero. Is that enough of a reason to withhold punishment from Lieberman? No. The main reason is simply control.
Leaving Lieberman in a position of some power within the Senate leaves him at the beck and call of the Senate democrats. He is beholden to their whims and should he step out of line, they can very easily remove him from his chairmanship. Beyond that, Lieberman isn't stupid. He should be well aware that being the fly in the ointment for either Obama or the senate Democrats will do him nothing but harm in his hopes of winning re-election in 2010. It's clear from the early polling that his only chance of possibly surviving is to reign back his rhetoric and work with the new government to get this country back on track.
This isn't rewarding Lieberman's bad behavior. Rather, it's a simple way to keep Lieberman in check with very few moves left at his disposal to work his way out. If he is remorseful and acts in the best interests of the country, fine. If not, his removal will be a cause based one rather than a politically based one.
And as the saying goes, you always keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.