The Lieberman/Lamont Senate race may prove an interesting litmus test for the future of the Democratic party, as Connecticut voters choose whether they want their party to lean to the Right, or the Left.
The Senate primary, being held today, pits former vice-presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman against Ned Lamont, a Harvard and Yale graduate with limited political experience. How can Lamont, a man never before venturing past local government, possibly challenge a political pro like Lieberman? With the war in Iraq, of course.
Like most of his fellow senators in 2002, Lieberman voted to give President Bush the power to pre-emptively attack Iraq. In that vote, Senate Democrats were divided down the middle, with a little less than half voting against the resolution, and a little more than half in favor; at which point many Democrats across the country expressed anger that their elected representatives would go along with such a conservative, Bush-driven piece of policy. Four years later, the Iraq war still in full force and seeming less legitimate than ever, even more Democratic voters may feel that they were duped by their state’s senators.
This is especially true in Connecticut. A poll released yesterday showed Lamont leading Lieberman 51 to 45 percent, and almost all of those voters in favor of Lamont listed the Iraq war as the main reason for their inclination away from Lieberman. Sen. Lieberman not only voted in favor of the 2002 war resolution, but has consistently supported Bush’s war time policies, telling fellow Democrats to trust the president and to refrain from undermining his credibility (this statement given in December 2005, at time when the CIA had already announced the administration was incorrect about WMDs in Iraq).
In the mere hours before the polls open in Connecticut, Lieberman is desperately trying to appeal to his Democratic base, reminding voters, “I’m not George Bush,” and trying to portray himself in a generally liberal light.
Hopefully, truly Left-leaning voters will not be swayed by last minute claims from Lieberman that he is any sort of a left-wing Democrat. The Senator has received support from myriad Republicans, and has worked side by side with ultra-conservative Senator (and possible mental health patient) Rick Santorum on faith based initiative legislation. Although Lieberman is by no means a Republican, Liberal voters hoping for a leader with fewer ties to the Right certainly would be swayed toward the Lamont campaign.
Although much of Ned Lamont’s campaign is based solely upon his opposition to the Iraq attack, Democratic voters may not consider an anti-war platform such a bad thing. Many Democrats weren’t brave enough to resist Bush’s war plan in 2002, and voters understandably do not want to elect another set of representatives who will be swept up in Republican fervor about terrorism and freedom. The kind of Democrat who will vote for Lamont wants to see a liberal, progressive politician; a politician who will not approve conservative legislation in fear of being called unpatriotic.
It is empowering to see Connecticut voters who refuse to let slide the pro-war stance of Senator Lieberman. Lieberman should be forced to take responsibility for his approval of a war opposed by a large proportion of his constituents; indeed, at a time when civil war is rampant in Iraq and the U.S. military can do little to help, many Democratic representatives ought to feel slightly uncomfortable for supporting Bush and his war in the first place.
In 2005, After stating his continued support for Bush’s war policy in Iraq, Lieberman added, “I know there are a lot of people in the party who disagree with me about the war.” Yes, there were a lot of people who disagreed with Lieberman, and many of them were citizens whom he was elected to serve; today, those constituents will have the final say in whether Lieberman’s career as a Senator shall continue.
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