All right, Joe. Here's the deal. This morning I was reading a post on Huffington Post that read as an open letter to Joe Lieberman. The letter essentially said that rather than not being punished, he had been made to look small by the magninimity of Presedent-elect Obama and the Senate Democrats. True, Lieberman's actions will be under a microscope, and Senate Democrats can indeed vote him out of his leadership roles as needed. However, my big complaint with Lieberman here is that he shouldn't be in the Senate anymore in the first place. You lost your own party's primary, Joe. Come on. Seriously. You are supposed to be representing the people of your state. Those people, via the 2006 primary, said "Thanks, Joe, but your services are no longer required." To which Joe responded by saying "I'm going to run anyway." This is tantamount to flipping the bird to the Democratic voters of the state. Then, somehow, he managed to win in the general election. The "how" portion of this sad fact is water under the bridge and warrants no comment from me. It is worth stating, though, that Mr. Lieberman is clearly engaging in some sort of weird, masturbatorial crusade that, hopefully, will be brought to an end and he can disappear into obscurity as a petulant, self-serving footnote.
First he says "I don't care what the voters say, I'm going to run for Senate anyway." Then he says "The candidate from my own party is unqualified to be President and may even be unpatriotic." Then he says "If you strip me of my chairmanships, I'll take my toys and go play for the other team." And THEN he says that he wasn't punished at all. You are a sad, sad man, Mr. Lieberman. As an elected Senator, you are (in theory at least) supposed to be representing the people. Instead, you have chosen to represent yourself. You are performing an act of self-gratification. Were it not so tragic, it would be funny. So go on performing your self-gratification for the next four years until you come up for re-election again. Hopefully by that time the people of your state will have had their fill of watching you flog the magic donkey.
Friday, November 21, 2008
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That is a problem with politics, corporate management, religion, academia -- any type of large organized institution in this country: the arrogant proliferation of entitlement. And it is one of the many things that makes us such a PR laughing-stock in the international community.
ReplyDeleteSticking to politics -- since that is where we began -- Lieberman proves that this affliction is nothing that the right, left or any in-between have a monopoly on. You see it on all sides of the aisle. Pork-barrel projects, special interests, palm-greasing of every type. They do it because they can. They push the limits because we let them.
When it all comes down to it, in the election this year, from the primaries to the Big Day, the thing that differentiated Obama from the rest of the candidates was his lack of implicit entitlement. He truly came across as wanting what is best for the country, not just he and his People. People may not agree with his platforms or the way he wants to go about things, but I don't think anyone can honestly deny that.
In closing, a quote. (I love good quotes, even when they come from bizarre people or places.)
"Champions. Doesn't matter where we come from. What we've done. Or suffered. Or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world is as it should be to show it what it can be."
--Angel (David Boreanaz) in Season 4, Episode 1 of Angel