Learning from Joe Lieberman to repair the American breach

This March 17 would be the “yahrzeit” of Sen. Joe Lieberman’s surprising demise in 2024, a time in Jewish custom when relations recite the mourners’ kaddish prayer and lightweight candles in reminiscence of their beloved one.

These of us who knew Joe Lieberman proceed to mourn his passing and miss his smile and decency.  When we now have gathered at memorial providers and early screenings of “Centered,” a brand new documentary which chronicles his life, we all the time specific the want that there have been extra leaders like him in at present’s harsh political atmosphere. (“Centered” can be in Regal Cinemas nationwide on March 18 and 19.)

That craving for comity was accentuated by the partisan ambiance within the Home of Representatives for President Donald Trump’s latest handle to a joint session of Congress. We might debate which occasion or its leaders are extra responsible of polluting the general public sq. as of late, however that may defeat the aim of arguing for higher habits from either side. The political divide (a worrisome “gulf of America”) leaves us inches away from stalemate, and mere ft from chaos. 

Whereas Joe Lieberman can now not converse up on behalf of civility in politics, he left us loads of examples:

MY FATHER WAS SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN. HIS LAST WORDS ARE WHAT WE NEED TO HEAR RIGHT NOW

When he gave the Democratic response to President Ronald Reagan’s final radio handle in 1989, Lieberman didn’t abuse the chance to settle political scores. “Your love of this nation and your fervent devotion to freedom impressed us all,” the brand new Democratic senator mentioned of the Republican president.

In 1991, somewhat than be part of most Democrats to oppose the usage of pressure after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, Lieberman grew to become the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the decision authorizing the primary (and profitable) Gulf Conflict.

Sen. Joe Lieberman joins Sen. John McCain on the Republican Nationwide Conference on Sept. 4, 2008, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Joe Raedle/Getty Pictures)

Working throughout the aisle with senators like John McCain, Lieberman advocated for the 9/11 Fee to analyze the terrorist assault of Sept. 11, 2001, and Arlen Specter for creation of the Division of Homeland Safety.

He usually joined with Republican Sen. Bob Dole in urging each Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to take a extra lively function in defending Bosnia from Serbian aggression.

HERE’S WHAT I’D LIKE YOU ALL TO REMEMBER ABOUT MY DEAR FRIEND SEN JOE LIEBERMAN

And Lieberman collaborated with leaders in both parties to talk out towards the plight of inappropriate content material in video video games, music and tv packages, which helped result in the creation of scores programs that give dad and mom extra energy to discern what’s greatest for his or her youngsters.

President George W. Bush speaks with Sens. Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton after an occasion within the East Room of the White Home, June 17, 2003. (Stephen Jaffe/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)

All through his life, Lieberman’s advocacy of concord and good will discovered expression in his fervent help for civil and human rights, from touring to Mississippi as a scholar advocating voting rights to his management in ending the discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t inform” coverage within the army and to his dedication to a cleaner atmosphere (the latter two efforts additionally concerned cross-party cooperation).

The senator’s many public expressions of cordiality in direction of folks of both or no political occasion have been matched by his habits in personal. As staffers who labored with him starting greater than 45 years in the past, via many crises and controversies (hardly ever of his personal making), we will testify to his humor, equanimity and good will. We by no means heard him elevate his voice, even in probably the most tense and tumultuous of circumstances.

Joe Lieberman’s calm demeanor shouldn’t be mistaken for a milquetoast profession, nonetheless. In the midst of the work cited above, and plenty of extra, he was pleasant, however forthright; respectable, however decided. 

Al and Tipper Gore and Joe and Hadassah Lieberman wave to the gang upon their arrival for the Democratic Nationwide Conference, on Aug. 16, 2000, in Burbank, California. (Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Pictures)

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Thanks in good measure to his religion in God and fervent non secular beliefs, he had a robust ethical compass that nearly all the time pointed him in the fitting path for the betterment of society. If he fell brief on uncommon events, it was by no means from base motives or weak rules. He was, within the phrases of the prophet Isaiah, a “repairer of the breach,” not a supply of division.

As almost lifelong believers within the management of Joe Lieberman, we can’t assist however really feel that America and the world would have been higher off if he and Al Gore had succeeded within the 2000 election. However even within the wake of that big – and enormously disappointing – setback in his life, Lieberman confirmed the identical sort of grace and optimism that characterised his entire life:

“America is a good nation,” he mentioned on the ground of the Senate the day after Vice President Gore conceded the election to George W. Bush. “I do suppose that all of us ought to be grateful this morning that right here in America we work out our variations not with civil wars, however with spirited elections.”

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman speaks at a panel hosted by the Nationwide Council of Resistance of Iran on Aug. 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Pictures)

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“It’s time now for all of us to return collectively in help of those United States and the shared values which have lengthy sustained us,” he continued. “Psalm 30 assures us that weeping might linger for the evening, however within the morning, there are shouts of pleasure.”

Our sorrow over the lack of Joe Lieberman has lingered via the lengthy evening of his absence from our lives and politics – by no means greater than at this yahrzeit of his passing – however we’re inspired by his stirring phrases and sterling instance to seek out hope for shouts of pleasure as soon as once more..

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Jim Kennedy is a former spokesman for Joe Lieberman, Invoice and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, the Clinton Basis, Sony Footage, Sony Company of America and Information Corp. He publishes occasional columns on Substack.