Though this diary will sound at times like a defense of Joe Lieberman, it is not. Not exactly, anyway.
This diary is also a selfish diary. These words here are less to convince you of anything than they are to really convince myself.
I am ready to accept this health care reform bill and I'm ready to admit that Joe Lieberman is better than a Republican.
I say that as someone who can't stand Joe Lieberman. I think he is a vile politician, and all evidence I've seen suggests he's not a very decent person either. The anger I feel today and I suspect many progressives feel is the simple fact that we lost this battle to Joe Lieberman.
We wanted single payer - Joe Lieberman did not. Joe won.
We wanted a strong public option - Joe Lieberman did not. Joe won.
We wanted any kind of public option - Joe Lieberman did not. Joe won.
We wanted an expansion of medicare - Joe Lieberman did, then decided he didn't (...the little prick). Joe won.
Joe Lieberman won. And that sucks. And that makes me seethe with anger and frustration.
But, here is the hard part I'm trying to come to terms with... losing to Joe Lieberman is not the same as losing to a Republican. For all our ranting and raving about Joe Lieberman being one of them, in the end.... he is better.
Again, don't get me wrong... I can't stand Joe. I worked hard for Ned Lamont and was delighted to at least kick Joe out of the party. In 2012, I will be there for Richard Blumenthal or Susan Bysiewicz or Ned Lamont to take Joe down. But, if its Joe Lieberman against Linda McMahon. I will don my gas mask and vote for Joe.
Because Joe is better than a Republican.
Don't forget where the true Republicans stood during this process. Their argument was that our health care system is the best in the world. They wanted to block any effort to do anything. They have tried every trick in the book to stall this process. They voted 40-0 to filibuster even this watered down version of a reform bill. They wanted nothing to get done. They wanted to help no one except maybe their buddies in the boardrooms of these insurance giants.
We wanted health insurance reform - the Republicans did not. We won.
We did. We won. This round. And Joe Lieberman did not join them this time. Small victory, you may argue. Yeah... perhaps. But, as Eugene Robinson voiced well in his op-ed piece that teacherkenhighlighted so aptly in his diary, this bill establishes health care as a right. Joe Lieberman appears to be for this position. A Republican would not. I accept this bill because it is important for us to win this battle against Republicans first. These are the people that ruled this nation entirely for about six years and partially for eight. This ideology still has a loud voice thanks in part to FOXNews and Rush and the corporate money that drives them. We need to knock these people down.
If this bill passes, we will have done that. The Republicans become irrelevant from that signing day forward. As much as we had hoped the 2008 election did that already, I don't think it did. This bill makes them irrelevant. They didn't even think health care was a problem to solve. At least with Joe Lieberman, we were only disagreeing about the solutions.
So what is my point? This is certainly not a diary to thank Joe Lieberman for all he has done. Please don't take it that way. My point is to convince myself to accept this victory as a step in the process. We have knocked the Republicans out of the conversation. Now, perhaps, we are in a better place to next take on Joe Lieberman. But I will not let my frustration at losing to Joe Lieberman today take away from the importance achieved by this bill in cementing liberal, big D Democratic governance as the preferred way of the land. Think where we were just four years ago. Now realize how important this bill is.
For now, Joe can smirk with that smug look of his. The debate has been shifted left in this country. Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Dick Cheney are officially irrelevant. Joe Lieberman is next.
UPDATE: It appears, if nothing else, this diary is serving the purpose of being a good place to release some of your anger at Joe Lieberman. And that's helpful too!