Yes, Lieberman is a petty, slimy, two-bit double-crosser and always has been. Yes, Lieberman is doing the bidding of his insurance company financiers. Yes, Lieberman is a spiteful man bent on settling personal political scores who cares not a whit about his constituents. All that.
However, it takes two to tango.
Lieberman’s partner in this cha-cha-cha of betrayal is the Obama administration in the face of Rahm Emmanuel, the man who spit in our face after Obama implored us to, "Make me do it," and we tried to do just that.
Ironically, the source of Emanuel’s vitriol against the liberals was his apparent deep concern for the political damage inflicted by Dems attacking other Dems. I guess Emanuel’s strikingly different reaction to Lieberman’s attack on Dems (one I am quite confident will prove ultimately to be much more damaging to the Dems than anything liberals could muster) is because he considers it to be something other than, "F***ing stupid." Look, if the administration can coerce Reid to kowtow to Lieberman; they could just as easily have told Lieberman to take a hike and Reid to go the reconciliation route and keep the public option and Medicare buy-in provisions.
We have been hearing all along how the Obama administration had cut a deal with the insurance companies early in the process, and the public option and Medicare buy-in happen to be elements that the insurance companies most wanted to disappear from the bill. Now, we have this member of the Obama administration, who so abhors Dems attacking other Dems, quickly willing to cut a deal with this Dem betrayer who demands - through what has to be strange coincidence - that these very same provisions be struck from the bill.
So, yes, we should be angry with Lieberman, but he could not be doing it without enablers in the Obama administration.
Oh, and did I mention, TPM reader JM, that my employer informed me yesterday that my health insurance premiums would be increasing by 19% in 2010 (with a 1,000 dollar greater limit on out-of-pocket payments), which means my premiums are approximately four-and-a-half times what they were ten years ago (with a similar increase in my out-of-pocket expenses from increased deductibles/co-pays/etc.)? 19% annual increases that possibly could be avoided by having stronger provisions that provide other options, such as a public option or Medicare buy-in if you are older, can make you a little insane, TPM reader JM. (And no one needs to remind me that I’m one of the lucky ones because I have coverage.)
The Obama administration has no idea of the political backlash they are unleashing if they continue to enable this crap, by readily capitulating to soulless politicians and further enriching and strengthening parasitic insurance companies who are already doing a pretty good job of that at our expense.