A Jewish Professor's Political Punditry: Fifty-Plus Years of Published Commentary by Ron Rubin

14. Jewish Personalities: Joe Lieberman

329 14 Jewish Personalities Joe Lieberman Political Orthodoxy [Wall Street Journal, Letter to the Editor, August 16, 2000] Michael Medved wants it both ways when he attacks Sen. Joseph Lieberman ’s politics as well as the teachings of Orthodox Judaism. He takes issue with Sen. Lieberman’s attitudes toward abortion and homosexuality. Then, he arrogates to himself Rabbinic authority criticizing the Orthodox positions on intermarriage and feminism. Mr. Medved compares Orthodox teachings on those issues to the ban on interracial dating at Bob Jones University. Orthodoxy has no such interracial social bans. Moses’s wife was black, and in modern day Israel it is not uncommon to see marriages between recently arrived black Ethiopian Jews and white Israelis. Orthodoxy simply holds different prayer requirements for men and women. Since women are seen as the main child caregivers, they are not required to pray communally as are men. Yet they are encouraged to pray at home. At synagogue, the sexes are separated not because of alleged superiority or inferiority. Prayer is a sensitive, personal experience. Mingling of the sexes is seen as distracting experience, given our human, physical drives. Mr. Medved may have been a synagogue president for fifteen years, but my guess is that he was often dozing off during the rabbi’s sermons. # # # 330 • Turn of the Century Getting to ‘President Joe’ [Forward, “ForwardForum” column, August 3, 2001] If Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut does indeed make a run for president in 2004, several current political trends may help him become the first Jewish resident of the White House. Mr. Lieberman’s ascent to the vice presidential nomination last year was predicated on his being his party’s most formidable critic of President Clinton. Mr. Lieberman’s Senate speech berating the president’s dalliances was the cover Al Gore needed to protect him from George W. Bush’s expected moralistic onslaught. During the 2000 presidential campaign, Americans got to know that the measured Connecticut senator was an observant Orthodox Jew and, in retrospect, this identity did not hurt the Democratic ticket. True, Mr. Lieberman’s disheartened moderate supporters remember how quickly he shed centrist positions on affirmative action, school vouchers and Hollywood filth. Jews also were antagonized by his kind words for the Reverend Louis Farrakhan and his interpretation of Judaism as not opposing interfaith marriage. Now, as Mr. Lieberman campaigns for the presidency, ironically enough he must thank George W. Bush for defining the issue that could serve to vault him ahead of his competitors for the 2004 Democratic nomination . When the president added faith-based charities to his agenda, he afforded Mr. Lieberman the chance of turning what would normally be a liability (his Jewish Orthodoxy) into a positive. No Democrat has better credentials from which to press this issue. Although secular Democratic Party stalwarts may rail against government aid for faith-based charities, Americans mostly favor this innovation. Such attention to faith figures in Mr. Lieberman’s campaign to reorient his party: “We have too often dismissed and disparaged the importance of faith in American life and made the faithful feel unwelcome in our party, particularly if they are open and outspoken about their religion,” he has said. These “wise words,” as The Wall Street Journal termed them, position Mr. Lieberman within the American mainstream. But will they help him gain the Democratic nomination? Although the Connecticut Senator is Joe Lieberman • 331 clearly positioning himself as a candidate, judging by the evidence of his sundry travels and fundraising, there remains his pledge not to run should Mr. Gore seek another shot. Other than the chance of the former vice president losing stomach for another go, Mr. Lieberman’s prospects depend on whether the barracudas of his party—especially its money people—are willing to sit down with Mr. Gore for a talk. If the message Mr. Gore takes away from such a meeting is praise for his place in history, what do the polls show about other would-be nominees ? Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York ranks as a second choice, but most handicappers advise her to continue shedding baggage in preparation for a try in 2008. Which leaves Mr. Lieberman as the next favorite. Strategically, his candidacy would build on the Democratic Party’s blue-collar base while sending the message that he is not part of its elitist, effete liberal hierarchy . Adding to the prominence he has gained from faith-based...