Chris Dodd and a few of his Senate colleagues pulled off an amazing feat of political gamesmanship to help Joe Lieberman keep his Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairmanship. It was so effective, in fact, that by the time Democratic Senators voted on Lieberman's role in the Party, they no longer had the option to strip Joe of his chairmanship.
[T]he outcome was for all intents and purposes a fait accompli.
Sources on Capitol Hill say there was little to no opportunity for Senators angry at their recalcitrant colleague to fully register their disagreements. Only one resolution -- one that kept Lieberman in his post but took away his position on an environmental and public works committee -- came to the floor, and it clearly had the support to pass. Senators could voice their displeasure or vote nay. But in the end, as one aide says, "the meeting was theater."
Chris Dodd and a handful of leading Senate Democrats apparently worked for days to keep the HS&GA gavel in Lieberman's hands.
"They had more than two and a half weeks to organize around this," said one high-ranking aide who favored Lieberman being stripped of his post. "And the fact of the matter is, Reid basically met with Lieberman 48 hours after the election was over. During that time it seemed like he was leaning towards stripping Lieberman of his committee chairmanship. But once that word came out, the only folks who were organized were the pro-Lieberman supporters."
The problem, the aide reluctantly ceded, was an absence of coordinated progressive leadership. While the pro-Lieberman allies were out in force -- led by Sens. Chris Dodd, Ken Salazar, Tom Carper, and Bill Nelson -- the Senators who wanted a harsher punishment held their cards tightly.
Dodd's efforts began on November 6, when he and Lieberman staged back-to-back press conferences in Washington, D.C. At the first press conference, Lieberman acknowledged meeting Harry Reid and said he would consider the "options" presented to him, which presumably included losing his chairmanship and joining the Republican caucus. At the second presser moments later, Dodd laid claim to the Banking Committee chair, shrugging off suggestions by Joe Biden that he move to Foreign Relations. Dodd and Lieberman also spoke several times that day.
The next day in Hartford, Dodd warned of a "messy fight" with the Obama-Biden administration if Lieberman were stripped of his chairmanship. Considering that it's Harry Reid and the Senate Steering Committee -- not Obama -- who picks the committee seats, it was an odd response. That warning could easily have been taken as a veiled threat to oppose Obama's legislative agenda. Since it only takes a few Democratic Senators to make good on such a threat, and Dodd was in the process of lining up Senators Nelson, Salazar, and others to side with him, the threat had to be taken seriously. Apparently it was. On November 9, Obama said he didn't hold any grudges against Lieberman, that he preferred that Joe caucus with the Dems, and that the Senate work out the details.
The rest was political theater.
It remains to be seen to what degree Dodd helped to salvage or sabotage the Obama administration's plans for change by bringing Lieberman into the fold -- and to what degree Dodd himself is interested in reform. As Banking Chairman, Dodd can lead the effort to revamp the financial services industry, or he can continue to let that industry regulate itself -- to disastrous effects. In fact, much of the credit or blame for what gets accomplished in Washington over the next two years will go to Senate Democrats like Dodd and Lieberman. I wonder if they'll rise to the occasion.
(The drumbeat against Lieberman continues... - promoted by ctblogger)
Today on Fox News Sunday, Senator Bryon Dorgan (D-ND) said the following:
As a chairman of one of our significant committees in the Senate, not just going off and supporting a presidential candidate of the other side but also criticizing the candidate on our side, and also involving himself in a couple of senate races on the other side. The question is, is that acceptable? The answer is no.
In an interview with a Vermont Public Radio station, Leahy said:
"Every Senator will have to vote the way he or she believes they should," Leahy said, in a reference to the upcoming vote on Lieberman's fate in the Dem caucus next week. "I'm one who does not feel that somebody should be rewarded with a major chairmanship after doing what he did."
"I felt some of the attacks that he was involved in against Senator Obama...went way beyond the pale," Leahy continued. "I thought they were not fair, I thought they were not legitimate, I thought they perpetuated some of these horrible myths that were being run about Senator Obama."
"I would feel that had I done something similar," Leahy concluded, "that I would not be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress."
Chris Dodd seems to be joining forces with Joe Lieberman in an attempt to undermine plans by Harry Reid -- and possibly the Obama-Biden administration -- to revoke Lieberman's chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee.
Dodd warned of a "messy fight" if Lieberman had his chairmanship revoked. Messy fight with whom? Dodd himself, apparently.
Dodd framed the Lieberman-Obama relationship as one of mutual dependence, and seemed to make a veiled threat that demoting Lieberman would create trouble:
U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd said Friday that President-elect Obama would not want one of his party's first major post-election issues to be a messy fight over Joseph Lieberman's status as a Democrat.
Lieberman's political future is uncertain because some Democrats want to punish him for supporting Republican John McCain in the race against Obama. But Lieberman and Obama have been Democratic colleagues in the U.S. Senate for four years, Dodd noted, and Obama generally resists confrontations if a compromise can be reached.
"What does Barack Obama want?" Dodd rhetorically asked reporters Friday in Hartford. "He's talked about reconciliation, healing, bringing people together. I don't think he'd necessarily want to spend the first month of this president-elect period, this transition period, talking about a Senate seat, particularly if someone is willing to come forward and is willing to be a member of your family in the caucus in that sense."
This sell job on Dodd's part should be taken within the context of two other facts:
1. Joe Biden has suggested that Chris Dodd give up chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee and take the chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee instead. Dodd says he won't do that.
Dodd also reiterated Friday that there was no way he would give up his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Banking Committee to chair the Foreign Relations Committee that Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware will be leaving to serve as vice president.
2. Dodd and Lieberman have a long record of doing the bidding of the financial services industry at the expense of consumers, going back to the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. You can read some of the details of their shady maneuverings at Public Campaign's website. There's also the issue of Dodd's Countrywide mortgage scandal and his poor oversight of the banking industry.
If the Obama-Biden administration wants to reform the financial services industry, they will need a Banking Chairman interested in reform. Can Dodd be trusted with that job? Given his past record, it's hard to see how.
The question is, can Dodd serve our country better by stepping aside quietly and helping to usher Lieberman out of his Homeland Security Chair than he can by engaging in a "messy fight" with the Obama administration to retain power for himself and Lieberman? Let's hope that some of Dodd's friends in Connecticut can help him do the right thing.
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