Joe Lieberman, Friend of America

Amongst my friends a question has arisen, what to do with Joe Lieberman? I do not actually see any reason to do anything with him. My friends think that the Democrats need to punish him in some fashion, perhaps stripping him of his seniority and perhaps not letting him caucus with him. This anger from my buddies stems from his very public repudiation of the Democratic. The Democrats seem to have gotten over it. and are taking away one of his subcommittee chairs. Well, tough on him. He's still the chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee.

I think they all have it wrong. Lieberman was useful in the Senate, but he's a wild card. The question is what can Joe do for his country and for the Democratic party.

I think President Obama should put him in the cabinet.

My favorite choice is the Department of Homeland Security. He already chairs the relevant Senate committee. He's Jewish, so the Arab Terrorists will hate him. He's Jewish, so the Israelis will love him.. He's a Republican on this stuff, so it lets Obama keep his promise to the Republicans. He's a lawyer, so he knows what civil rights are. He's a Republican, so he does not care. Most importantly, though, it's a crappy, ill-defined job that no sane person would want, but it still looks like a promotion to the outside. Besides, there's an outside chance Lieberman would actually be good at it. He certainly can't be worse at it than the people we've had so far.

My second favorite choice is the Department of Defense, for many of the same reasons but especially to annoy the Republicans, because they could not really squawk about him as a choice without sounding like a bunch of babies. Clearly, though, someone else needs to run that place.
I say we let Joe do it.

Beyond that there are departments which would be rewards like State, which appears to be heading toward a Clinton and Attorney General which might be decided as well. There are jobs which are nice enough on their own, but would be demotions for a guy like Lieberman, such as HUD or Labor. Besides, I do not think Lieberman cares enough about poor people for either of those jobs. Of course, not caring about poor people seems to be a requirement.

The neutral positions for a guy like Lieberman would be Interior, Energy, Education and maybe Transportation. He just lost his committee spot on the Environment and Public Works Committee, so he might just be qualified for those slots. I think he would do some good in those offices, but the message would be clear: you aren't in the Senate, and we are not happy with you. However we still think you can be useful, and we need someone to deal with these problems. Tag, you're it.

The other post I like is United States Trade Representative. It's not in the Cabinet but it is Cabinet Level. The great thing is that given his experience in dealing with the Democrats and Republicans, he clearly can talk to two sides and the same time that cannot talk to each other.

Or they can do what they did. Leave him in the Senate, and wait till he comes up for re-election..