What To Make Of Joe Lieberman?

We should probably start talking more about health care, seeing as how a bill may or may not pass in time to land under our Christmas trees this year. For the record, there's much I like in the House bill -- especially allowing people to be covered under their parents' plan until they're 26! -- but I was always most enamored with Sen. Ron Wyden's plan. (David Leonhardt made the best pitch for that reform, pronounced dead on arrival in Congress, here.) I'm not entirely convinced the House bill will reduce premiums and where it offers some financial assistance, it does so only by appropriating private costs with federal subsidies. Not very promising.

And, of course, I'm disappointed with the abortion compromise. I'm mature enough to admit, however, that the amendment more or less confirmed the conservative critique that allowing for more government regulation could also lead to less consumer choice. Here's a fine example: the government says private insurers who receive any federal subsidies cannot cover abortions, even for women who would not rely on those subsidies to pay their premiums. Sigh.

Then again, is it entirely hypocritical to argue, on the one hand, that certain government interventions can help, while others may not? Unlike conservatives, who have a certain core of first principles to follow, liberals are allowed at least some pragmatic wiggle room. (Look at me rationalize!)

But I wanted to end this post with some thoughts on Joe Lieberman, and his latest antics about the public option. I don't begrudge the man for saying what he believes or even his position (I'm no big fan of that plank of reform, even if I think Republicans have overstated its potential power). No, I'm mad because Lieberman always wants to appear as if he's taking independent, courageous stances, when, in fact, he's just as sniveling a politician as the rest of them. One minute, he comes off away from the Democrats; the next, he chums up to them so he can keep whatever precious committee leadership positions he has.

The harsh truth is that Lieberman is, more or less, a conservative. He may not always have been, but in the last few years, he's switched sides ideologically. He should drop this "above it all" holier-than-thou aura and change his party registration.