Shooting Both Feet with One Gun

by Scott H. Payne

From our good friend Joe Lieberman,

“My approach here is we really must do something this year,” said Lieberman, who has been co-sponsoring cap-and-trade bills since 2001. “The two problems of American energy dependence and global warming will only get worse. We’ve just got to do the most we can. I’m not being rigid or ideological about it. So anybody who wants to try to make the problem better, it’s worth considering.”

Says the guy who held health care reform hostage based on his own ill-conceived notions about what the American people wanted. Exit question: did Joe Lieberman’s action on health care reform, and the resultant slouch in Democratic morale, effectively kill any chance he had of passing substantive climate change legislation (let alone cap and trade legislation) any time soon?

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Tags | cap-and-trade, Democratic morale, Health Care Reform, joe lieberman

3 comments

1 Will { 01.27.10 at 3:18 pm }

Wait, what? I totally don’t get this. Why does killing health care reform kill climate change legislation (which, by the way, is already unlikely)?

2 Kyle { 01.27.10 at 4:11 pm }

Nope, climate change always had a tougher legislative outlook than health care and as I understand it the WH/Dem strategy was to pass big momentous legislation upfront and use that momentum to head into things like immigration reform and cap and trade.

So it might be fair to say that had health care reform passed (say in July or September) climate change legislation would’ve had a better shot but by the time Senator Lieberman opened his trap on healthcare reform, it was less about keeping the momentum going than it was salvaging what was left of a governing coalition to eek out a victory on HCR.

3 Jonathan { 01.28.10 at 9:08 am }

Scott, I can’t say that I’m with you on this. I don’t think there’s a connection. I don’t think passing HCR would have helped Cap ‘n’ Trade. Even if it would have, it doesn’t seem accurate to suggest that HCR would have passed but for Lieberman’s shenanigans.