Posit the following: Joe Lieberman, in his heart of hearts, supports health care reform because it is good for people, and it conforms with his general view of the world. Also, Joe Lieberman is doing everything in his power to be a total ass because he hates liberals and wants to make them squirm.
The general theory on Lieberman for the past month or two is that however much the former influences him, it is a lot less significance than the latter. Thus, Joe Lieberman goes after the public option because his hatred of liberals wins out over his desire to do good. He even admits his arguments about the public option are bunk but refuses to budge. Many (including me) have interpreted this as him being purely vindictive, risking the health care of millions for the sake of a stupid crusade.
However, Joe now seems to be perfectly willing to support this Medicare expansion as the compromise for removing the public option. Opinion among those who know a lot about these issues is divided, but a lot of folks think that this may actually prove to be better than any public option that ever had a realistic chance of getting out of the Senate (even in a world without Lieberman).
I don’t want to assign good motivations to a jerk like Lieberman if they’re not warranted, but is there even the smallest chance that his machinations are designed to allow him to have his cake and eat it too? He gets to infuriate the left – who have somewhat strangely decided that the public option is the only thing that matters in the health care bill – but potentially support a ‘compromise’ that does as much for the actual goals of health care reform as anything else that’s on the table.
I’m not saying that’s definitely what’s happening, but it’s a thought which at least makes some sense. It doesn’t put Lieberman in particularly good light, but it makes him seem a least a little bit less horrible.
Thoughts?