Joe Lieberman Profiles in Courage

According to John F Kennedy, from his book Profiles in Courage a person who “In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience – the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow-men – each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. (246)” is a profile in courage. Joe Lieberman an independent democrat has made many controversial actions towards the impact of his career (Condon).

Lieberman a Connecticut Senator was elected in 1988, has made some controversial decisions in his career (Gunzburger). The ongoing war in Iraq is a commonly debated topic Lieberman, unlike his political party’s views, supported the troops in Iraq wishing they stay (Adyanthaya). In the most recent presidential election, Joe Lieberman sided with Republican nominee John McCain much to the dislike of the Democratic Party (Claiborne and Hovell). His most recent action is his beliefs about the healthcare bill (Condon).

Senator Lieberman has gone against his political party risking his popularity and support from his people. The War in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a very controversial topic of how to approach a way out. Joe Lieberman has supported relieving Iraq of Saddam Hussein before George W. Bush was even elected president for his first term (Adyanthaya). Lieberman, in 1998, co-sponsored the Iraq Liberation Act. Unanimously the Act passed the Senate and made a change to the power of the government in Iraq’s official U. S. policy.

Many people in the Democratic Party changed their opinion of the Iraq Liberation. Joe Lieberman went against his party supporting the Act (Adyanthaya). Many of Lieberman’s supporters were against America being involved in Iraq. Lieberman has been a target of political attacks based on decisions and beliefs (Adyanthaya). An article in the New York Times has described him as “an increasingly unwelcome figure within his party. ” Lieberman’s beliefs and decisions have led his party to rule him out and may have started to ruin his political career.

In 2000 he was the Democratic Party’s nominee for Vice President. In the 2006 senate election Lieberman was faced with a challenger for the upcoming election (Claiborne and Hovell). To make Lieberman’s matters worse The Daily Kos the single most popular liberal website at the time was looking for donations to help Lieberman’s challenger Ned Lamont. Ned Lamont won the Democratic vote over Lieberman in the 2006 primary Senate Election (Burns). Lieberman came back and won as an Independent. In 2007 Lieberman was a supporter of Vice President Cheney’s plan for the war in Iraq.

Lieberman appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation. There Senator Lieberman stated “I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq. And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back to Iraq to kill out soldiers (Porter). ” Once again Lieberman went against his Democratic Party supporting the Republican opinion on the war in Iraq.

In the 2008 presidential election, Joe Lieberman made his stand supporting Republican nominee John McCain. In 2007 Lieberman decided to endorse McCain because he considered him to be “the most capable to be commander in chief…, and the most capable of uniting the country so that we can prevail against Islamic extremism” said an aide of Lieberman (King and Bash). Lieberman’s aide also insured that the senator doesn’t see this as a “commentary on or an endorsement of the Republican Party, only the person (King and Bash). ” Many people who know and respect Senator Lieberman are unhappy with his decisions.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated “I have great respect for Joe, but I simply have to disagree with his decision to endorse Senator McCain (King and Bash). ” When founder and CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council Al From, found out about Lieberman’s choice he said that “I am very saddened by senator Lieberman’s choice, and profoundly disagree with it. We need a Democratic president in 2008. (King and Bash)”, In response, Lieberman said that “I know that it’s unusual for a Democrat to been endorsing a Republican. Lieberman also added that “Political Parties are important in our country. But they’re not more important than what’s best for our country, they’re not more important than friendship. ” McCain said that, “I think it’s courageous when anyone crosses party lines to support a candidate from another party, the easiest thing for Joe to do would have just have sat on the sidelines in this campaign (Claiborne and Hovell). ” The most current topic Joe has dealt with is the health care reform bill.

Senator Lieberman states that he has been “opposed to a movement-created, government-run insurance company (Grim)” In August of 2009 Lieberman believed that we have to put off the health care reform until the economy is out of recession (Noah). In October the bill that contained no public option passed the committee with every Republican opposed with the exception of Olympia Snowe (Grim), Lieberman stated that he will not support it “the way it is now. (Noah)” He also said that he will join a Republican filibuster against healthcare reform if it did contain a public option.

Lieberman said he’s “opposed a public option because of the potential burden it could place on taxpayers (Condon). ” Democrats however made a public option that would be funded by premiums in place of federal funds (Condon). Health care options have yet to be finalized and Lieberman’s decisions are yet to be determined. “Being a Republican is important. Being a Democrat is important. But you know what’s more important than that? The interest and well-being of the United States of America (King and Bash),” he has said and has exactly done.

In Lieberman’s opinion, he has made decisions on the interest and well-being of the country (Claiborne and Hovell). He has stood up for what he believed in, going against many of his supporters and against his own political party. What else does Lieberman have to do to become a Profile in Courage?

Works Cited

Adyanthaya, Anil. “RealClearPolitics – Articles – Profile in Courage? Not John Murtha. ” RealClearPolitics – Opinion, News, Analysis, Videos and Polls. N. p. , n. d. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www. realclearpolitics. com/articles/2006/03/profile_in_courage_not_john_mu. html>. Alter, Jonathan. Alter: Lieberman, Health Care, and Hurt Feelings | Newsweek Voices – Jonathan Alter | Newsweek. com. ” Newsweek – National News, World News, Health, Technology, Entertainment and more… | Newsweek. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www. newsweek. com/id/222762>.

Burns, Alexander. “Ned Lamont could ‘opt in’ vs. Joe Lieberman – Alexander Burns – POLITICO. com. ” Politics, Political News – POLITICO. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www. politico. com/news/stories/1009/28800. html>. Condon, Stephanie . “Joe Lieberman Says He’ll Block Reid’s Health Care Bill – Political Hotsheet – CBS News. Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News – CBS News. <http://www. cbsnews. com/blogs/2009/10/27/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5425530. shtml>.

Grim, Ryan. “Lieberman Willing To Sink Health Care Reform… But He Would Really Hate To Do It (AUDIO). ” Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N. p. , n. d. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www. huffingtonpost. com/2009/10/27/lieberman-willing-to-sink_n_335748. html>. Gunzburger, Ron. “Politics1 – Profile of Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT). ” Politics1 – American Politics, Elections, Candidates & Campaigns. N. p. , n. d. Web. 12 Dec. 2009. <http://www. politics1. com/lieberman. htm>.

Kennedy, John F.. Profiles in Courage. New York: Harper & Bros, 1956. Print. King, John, and Dana Bash. “Lieberman: McCain can reunite our country – CNN. com. ” CNN. com – Breaking News, U. S. , World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N. p. , n. d. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www. cnn. com/2007/POLITICS/12/17/mccain. endorsements/>. “Lieberman Throws Support Behind McCain – Political Radar. “