Obama Aces Lieberman

The perceptual impact of purging Joe Lieberman isn't worth the short-term satisfaction of doing so, despite the fact he deserves it.

Obama specifically cites Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals as a profound influence, after all. Maybe Obama borrows from the politically masterful Lincoln, here. Maybe Obama has Lieberman exactly where he wants him.

At a minimum, Obama wields a deft knife, here: first, he distances himself from any decisions on Lieberman's status in the Senate; next, he backed a compromise to keep Lieberman inside the Democratic Caucus. From the Washington Post:

In a phone conversation last week with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), Obama said that expulsion of Lieberman for his support of the Republican presidential ticket would send the wrong signal after Obama's promises to set partisanship aside, according to a Senate Democratic aide familiar with the conversation.

Obama "didn't get into the minutiae. It was more along the lines of, 'let's find a way to put the campaign behind us'," the aide said.

Yeah, I get it: it's an image manipulation thing. Not totally principled in motivation, but planned to have an effect apparently in keeping with articulated principles.

Personally, I don't care.

But I do think that purging him is perceptually damaging for the Democrats, no matter how much satisfaction it generates among partisans.

(1) It makes Democrats look petty like Republicans in demanding a standard of purity.
(2) It can easily be made to look like, and likely is, a hyper-partisan action, reflecting a very "us vs. them" mentality, a mentality the voters have resoundingly rejected in both 2006 and 2008.
(3) It makes Washington look like it's running like the hyper-real version of "Washington", blunting the Obama Administration's "mandate" for change; that is: it is evidence of Washington being "Washington", rather than a place where common sense rules.

While many liberal blogs, including AMERICABlog and Daily Kos, have gone to town to urge the Democratic caucus to purge Lieberman, I just don't have the bloodlust or the energy or the desire to see Obama begin squandering "honeymoon capital" on a bum like Lieberman. Joe will rise/fall to the level of his general incompetence and will be totally marginalized within the circles of power without anyone raising a finger.

Give non-competent people enough rope and they solve your troubles (with them) for you.

Brad DeLong is completely down with the sickness:

This makes it very clear to everybody that if Joe Lieberman joins the Republican caucus it is his own doing: that if Lieberman leaves the Democrats it is Lieberman who will be breaking his promises to the voters of Connecticut, rather than the Democrats who are throwing Lieberman out.

It seems to me Barack Obama has just eliminated any bargaining power Lieberman had vis-a-vis Harry Reid with respect to his committee assignments...

Oh so very smart.