WASHINGTON — Well, “Joementum” turned out to be “Nomentum.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman’s gracious bow out from the race made up
somewhat for the uncomfortable way he made everyone feel with his
post-New Hampshire denial speech, which he began by proudly
announcing that “none of the pundits expected” his fifth place
finish. He went on to spin his sorry showing as a “three-way tie
for third.”
Tuesday night’s concession speech was better.
“The judgment of the voters is now clear,” Lieberman told
supporters. “For me, it is now time to make a difficult but
realistic decision. I have decided tonight to end my quest for the
presidency of the United States of America. Am I disappointed?
Naturally. But am I proud of what we stood for in this campaign?
You bet I am.”
So how did this happen? Shouldn’t the party base have rallied
around Lieberman, one half of the 2000 Democratic ticket? Wouldn’t
he have been vice president if it wasn’t for the hijinx of
Katherine Harris and those rascals on that right-wing cabal,
sometimes known as the Supreme Court?
THE BOBBING TALKING HEADS seem to want to lay the blame for
Lieberman’s defeat at Al Gore’s feet. Lieberman did get a late
start waiting for Gore to make up his mind whether or not to run.
And Gore’s endorsement of Howard Dean only added insult to injury.
However, if polls are any indicator, Lieberman actually got a bit
of a sympathy bounce out of getting screwed by Mr. Tennessee
Lisp.
No, Lieberman’s woes go much deeper than Al Gore. Out on the
campaign trail, I could tell he was in trouble from day one. During
the summer of 2002 I went to a meeting of local Democratic
activists in New Hampshire. These are the people who provide the
blood, sweat and tears for candidates long before the college age
volunteers show up or furnished office space is provided. They are
connected, tough political types who make the behind the scenes
stuff happen months before the primary is a blip on the national
radar screen. It was still close to six months before Lieberman
announced his candidacy, but the Democratic leadership seemed
unenthusiastic about the prospect of the Joemobile riding into
town.
“Lieberman is a religious fundamentalist,” one Democratic ward
leader told me. “Vice president? Okay. President? No way. I don’t
think he’s all that different than Bush.”
SHOW OF HANDS NOW: How many religious fundamentalists spend a good
deal of time kissing the backside of pro-abortion groups like NARAL
and NOW? That is how skewed things have become, but Lieberman
played the role.
Here was a candidate who talked openly about religion in an
increasingly secular Democratic Party. Here was a man who supported
tax cuts when the party line was class war. Here was a man who
trumpeted the war with Iraq as just when his party’s base was more
apt to call it treason. In the near weekly Democratic debates,
Lieberman seemed to think success was based on how many times the
crowd booed you.
The other bad sign for Lieberman was how Republicans constantly
bemoaned the way poor Joe was being waylaid by his party of
radicals. It was kind of like Democrats’ persistent praise of John
McCain during the 2000 primaries. Republican and Democratic voters
saw where the praise was coming from, and acted accordingly.
“I offered a mainstream voice and I still believe that is the
right choice and the winning choice for our party and our country,”
Lieberman said during his concession speech.
Events have shown Democrats want a mainstream candidate (bye-bye
Dean), but they definitely didn’t want a mainstream voice. Give
credit where it’s due: The man never backed down from speaking his
piece. But, judging by Lieberman’s poor showing, just about
everywhere, his pragmatism didn’t work with voters. To many
Democrats he came off as a Jewish George W. Bush.
Dems of the future should heed this lesson and not be so silly
as to utter common sense during a primary season.
