It's Joe's world, we all just live in it

At the beginning of the congressional session earlier this year, when Barack Obama was president-elect and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was staring at an impressive 59 votes in his caucus, he was just shy of that magical 60 he would only get when Sen. Arlen Specter switched parties three months later.

Reid and the President-elect knew it was going to be a rough legislative year, Obama was packing his White House with plenty of capitol hill veterans who knew exactly what kind of congressional muscle it was going to take to tackle their ambitious four-fold agenda of health care, regulatory reform, cap-and-trade, and education, he knew his mostly progressive ambitions would neccessitate lock-step party unity and he knew he would have to scramble for every vote. Just one little thing had to be settled, the same thing that seems as if it still needs to be settled: Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman, a Moderate Independent who had caucused with the Democrats (and gave them their one vote majority in the 110th congress,) had campaigned vigorously for the Republican candidate in the 2008 election and had time and time again heaped scorn on his colleagues and their party's standard bearer. When the dust had settled after Novemeber and anti-Republican sentiment amidst the global financial crises had handed the Democrats huge congressional majorities and the White House, one would assume that with 58 solid votes in the caucus they could afford to cast away Lieberman away and strip him of his coveted chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Instead, Obama, in the very brief era of good feelings that followed his election and inauguration decided to let bygones be bygones and let Lieberman keep his chairmanship and his senior status amongst the newly enlarged Democratic caucus. Besides, lots of things are said in the heated politcal drama of Presidential elections, let's not be too hasty. Plus, why be satisfied with 58 votes, when you can have 59 and a grateful committee chair who you would now think would feel as if he owes you one.

Well today, as you can see in a story in today's New York Times Joe Lieberman is at it again, almost single handedly derailing weeks of compromise, concessions, deals and negotiations on President Obama's signature domestic issue: health care. Enraging his Democratic colleagues who are now scrambling to find a compromise to the compromise and ensure that this far down the road and so close to the finish line, the entire thing doesn't just fall apart. Lieberman showed that he relishes this new found power and that he is truly loving every minute of it. He is happiest when he is at the political apex, and though Democrats are white hot with anger at him, he knows they still need him, and is ready and willing to play that game.

It's also dangerous ground to tread for Mr. Lieberman, voters in his state overwhelmingly support health care reform, a public option, and medicare expansion. The latter two were gutted out of the bill at his bidding, and he seems ready to ask for even more as the negotiations continue to get into the 11th hour.

President Obama will play the role of the closer today, he summoned the whole Democratic caucus to the White House today for a rare all-hands-on deck meeting on his territory, trying his best to manage a compromise that can get the 60 votes neccessary to pass, most likely asking his more progressive party members to swallow hard and remember how historic it would be for the even-the-much-more-moderate bill to finally become law. Will Joe get everything that he wants? Probably. Will The President pull him aside and give him a private audience to strike a deal? I wouldn't bet on that one, Lieberman will be lucky if some lowly staff member doesn't try and trip him on the way out.