The Joe Lieberman dilemma

WASHINGTON - "Take it from me, elections matter," said Al Gore, who ran against George W. Bush in 2000 and lost. This was during his endorsement of Barack Obama earlier this week. The expression of support had been expected. But Gore was not alone in 2000: Senator Joe Lieberman, his running mate, also lost. But Lieberman is now backing John McCain. He also agrees that elections matter.

Eight years have passed since they lost that race. During that time, Gore pulled leftward and Lieberman to the right. The man who used to be No. 2 in the Democratic Party is now a thorn in its side. The things Lieberman's former party colleagues say about him are not always appropriate to quote in a newspaper.

Several weeks ago, HBO aired a feature film on the month that decided the 2000 elections: from the television networks' announcement of a Gore victory, to the correction, to the huge confusion in Florida, the legal battle, and the Supreme Court ruling against Gore. "Recount," starring Kevin Spacey, reminded the Democrats that they have been angry at Lieberman since then. His television appearence, which was included in the original version of the film, shelved the intentions of some of the Democratic campaign officials to challenge the votes cast from overseas, many of them by soldiers. In the appearance, Lieberman said it is inconceivable for the votes of soldiers not to be counted.

Alas, that same Lieberman who nearly managed to bring about Gore's victory in Florida - a state where his chances had not been considered particularly favorable - is back in Florida in 2008, in the service of the rival party. One of his missions: to convince the Jewish residents, most of whom are of retirement age, to vote McCain. While Obama is struggling to convince them that he will provide firm support for Israel, Lieberman will tell them that the opposite is true. He will say that Obama's expected Mideast policy will hurt Israel and the United States.

Last week, immediately after Obama addressed the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, reporters were called for a meeting with Lieberman. "I appreciate many of the very good intentions toward Israel that Senator Obama expressed today," Lieberman said. "But I also thought, respectfully, that there was a disconnect between what he said today, particularly in regard to Iran, and things he has said and done earlier." Obama voted against the Lieberman-Kyle amendment that called on the U.S. administration to classify Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

Obama himself is very angry with Lieberman, and several days ago he met with him personally to express his disappointment at the tone and content of his assaults. Obama believes it is a matter of ingratitude: Lieberman asked Obama to assist him during the 2006 Connecticut Democratic primary, when he was running for the Senate. Obama did not really work for his rival, Ned Lamont, even after he won the primary. Lieberman won the election on an independent ticket.

Lieberman's ability to bring Jewish voters to the McCain camp will be evident only after the elections. The polls show that Jews - the vast majority of whom vote Democrat - are less enthusiastic about voting for Obama than they were about previous party candidates. A Gallup Poll found that more than 30 percent of Jewish voters will vote McCain. That is a lot, and McCain is hoping for more: something closer to, and maybe even greater than, the record set by Ronald Reagan in 1980, when he faced Jimmy Carter and received 40 percent of the Jewish vote. In any case, the Republicans will frequently compare Obama to Carter. Carter is booed even by steadfast Jewish Democrats. If they think Obama resembles him, they may defect.

Many of these Jews are confused by Lieberman, McCain's most striking supporter. He is not just any Jewish legislator. While there are 40 others, he is a symbol of the community's ability to smash through the glass ceiling. Eight years before an African-American politician gained the party's nomination for the presidency, a Jew was the candidate for vice president.

Now, suddenly, senior Democratic Jews face a choice that is making many shift uneasily in their seats: They need to assail Lieberman - and the pressure to do so is great due to concerns that he will narrow the party's chances of winning the elections. But the confusion is great, too. One offered the following parallel: "Attacking Lieberman is like a black politician attacking Obama. You can see that most of the black politicians, Republicans included, are trying to avoid this."

During the past two weeks, I spoke with some 10 Jews confronted with this problem. Half said they would try to avoid a confrontation with Lieberman, and the others said it is inevitable. If one should guess, most will eventually join the attacking camp. In an election campaign, immediate needs count for more than past ties. In any case, Lieberman promised Obama that he would avoid personally attacking him, and would focus on the differences in policy, but it is already evident that there is a dispute on this, too: What Lieberman calls "policy," Obama supporters call "personal."

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