Joe Lieberman said yesterday that he respected the people's right to disagree with
him on Iraq. We're spending $250 million dollars per day on the Iraq war. A
war that has cost thousands of lives, left tens of thousands maimed, with the
turmoil now spreading out across the Middle East in the form of a Shia crescent shadow that reaches from
Iran to Baghdad to Lebanon. So yesterday Mr. Lieberman tried
to explain himself on Iraq. He also took time out to whine on ABC's “This
Week” that he'd been “scapegoated” on Iraq. If he'd only looked
up once in a while he would have seen this coming.
Joe Lieberman has simply been thrust into a humility tour. It happens to people
when their ego gets out in front of reality. But Joe Lieberman isn't alone.
The entire Democratic Party is experiencing a similar catharsis, all at the
hands of ordinary people. Republicans could be next, when tens of thousands
of voters simply stay home in disgust. But reality is the dish of the day, being
served up on a plate of Iraq.
Just ask Hillary Clinton. I know I keep harping on this but getting booed at
Take Back America was the tipping point for her. Everything has changed since
that speech, because the people in the room let her have it. She could no longer
deny the push back.
Last week on “Hardball,” Christopher Dodd was on to talk about Joe
Lieberman. However, he spent more time talking about how he disagreed with Joe
in Iraq and that we should bring troops home now. He said it more than once.
John Edwards wants to bring 40,000 troops home now.
When Senators Kerry and Feingold offered their amendment it was met with collective
silence, but that was a few weeks ago. At the time Hillary signed on to the
Levin amendment, which moved many hawks over to the let's redeploy column. Now
Joseph Biden has signed on to the letter sent to the president about Iraq.
The analysts have it wrong
about Connecticut. But no one is more misinformed than Joe Lieberman. He has
blamed the bloggers. He has blamed misinformation. He has blamed everyone, finishing
with a flourish about how he “refused to sell out to the haters.”
It's unfathomable that anyone who says he wants to represent the people can
be so out of touch with how we feel.
Most politicians don't have the stuff of John F. Kennedy or Bobby Kennedy.
They aren't moved from within to make rhetorical flourishes of great import,
impact and passion. They live lives filled with great dreams, which their actions
seldom let them cash, because it takes real courage to break out and actually
lead. Regular politicians need cover, so when the people are afraid to stand
up, speak out and push back, the politician rarely is willing to rock the boat.
To do that they need the people behind them, backing them, pushing them on.
The most important decision our leaders in Washington do is decide whether
to keep the peace or to make war. There is nothing more deadly serious. Our country
has made many military mistakes. The American people are a forgiving group.
But we long ago reached the end game on Iraq. It's just that we had no outlet
through which to express and embolden our thoughts, opinions and demands, let
alone a cause that galvanized our imaginations so that we once again believed
we can make a difference, make a vote really count, send a message that is unmistakable.
It's really simple. The people of Connecticut, through the candidacy and voice
of Ned Lamont, have found a way to stand up and push back. They're doing it
with their voices, their blogs and on Tuesday they will be doing it with their
votes. But they're not simply doing it for themselves. It's for all of us, every
American who has had it with George W. Bush, the rubber stamping Republican
incompetence, the Democrats who still can't say this war was wrong, and everyone
in between who refuses to change course and do it now. Mind you, it's heartbreaking
to think of withdrawal and the aftermath of this defeat. But the time has come
for this great nation to admit her mistakes, make amends and begin repairing
the incomprehensible losses this war of choice has cost. Unfortunately for Joe
Lieberman, he is one of the mistakes we are attempting to make right, because he didn't have the courage to do it for himself.
Many of us have been behind the people of Connecticut and Ned Lamont, with blogs
like DailyKos, MyDD and Firedoglake, as well as many local Connecticut blogs,
leading the way, but we've all been behind this anti Iraq war whoop meant to get the job done because the politicians refused to correct the course themselves. We've tried
to give the people of Connecticut whatever national megaphone we can to raise
the entire country's collective voice about the Iraq war, so the voters and
Ned Lamont would know they were not alone. That even though it was their state
and their Senate seat we all had a stake in this shot. A shot to stop this war of choice in its tracks; a war that has plunged this country and the people of the
Middle East into a political hurricane of uncertainty and carnage that has worldwide
implications that could last for decades.
There are many issues, but life and death comes first. It's represented in
the Iraq war. Connecticut is America this week. The country's great debate is
in their hands.
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