A Times Editorial

A man of integrity

Joseph Lieberman, like Dick Cheney, brings more substance than style to this year's presidential campaign. His religion should be only a footnote.

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 8, 2000

Joseph Lieberman was the first congressional Democrat to formally denounce President Clinton's behavior during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. And although Clinton is a longtime political ally and fellow Yale law school alum, the senator from Connecticut didn't simply call the president's behavior "inappropriate." He went to the well of the Senate to decry it as "immoral." That act of conscience was typical of a man who has won bipartisan respect in Washington as a lawmaker of independent-minded integrity.

Lieberman also has gained attention for his partnership with conservative social critic William Bennett in a campaign to hold the entertainment industry accountable for violence, sexism and other anti-social content in movies and recordings. And on an array of issues, from partial privatization of Social Security to pilot education voucher programs, Lieberman has taken centrist positions that borrow equally from Democratic and Republican dogma.

No wonder Texas Gov. George W. Bush and other top Republicans offered early praise for Al Gore's choice of a running mate. In many respects, Lieberman would have made a compatible running mate for Bush.

Make no mistake: On core social and economic issues, Lieberman is a solid Democrat. In a speech to a group of union workers Monday, only minutes after having been offered a place on the Democratic ticket, he spoke passionately of his party's record in protecting workers' safety and economic rights.

On matters of substance, Lieberman brings impressive attributes to Vice President Al Gore's campaign. On matters of style and strategy, the Connecticut senator's value as Gore's Democratic running mate is less certain. Lieberman has been a workhorse, not a show horse; as a public speaker, he is known for a solemn monotone that makes GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney's avuncular pronouncements sound positively dynamic by comparison. And while Lieberman is no Teddy Kennedy liberal, Gore's selection of a New England Democrat makes no more sense on the electoral map than Bush's choice of a Wyoming Republican.

Finally, there is the issue of Lieberman's religion. Lieberman is not just the first Jewish vice presidential nominee on a major-party ticket; he is among the minority of American Jews who adhere to the dictates of Orthodox Judaism, including restrictions on activity during the Sabbath, between sunset Friday and sunset Saturday. Lieberman has successfully reconciled his political and religious responsibilities during his congressional career and says he would have no problem doing so as vice president.

The great majority of Americans are prepared to vote for a qualified woman or a religious or ethnic minority for the highest office in the land, and Lieberman is just one of many Jewish public officials in Congress and in statewide offices across the country. However, many Jewish candidates also have been the targets of insidious -- and in some cases overt -- appeals to religious bigotry.

Since winning the GOP nomination, Gov. Bush has done an admirable job of leading his party in a more tolerant and inclusive direction. However, at the height of Sen. John McCain's challenge to his candidacy, Bush ran a divisive South Carolina primary campaign that stooped to coded religious bigotry. He visited Bob Jones University and made no mention of the school's history of racial and religious bias. He was silent as Pat Robertson's operatives made anti-Semitic calls slandering McCain's national campaign co-chairman, former Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H. And he relied on the political organization of former Gov. Carroll Campbell, who ran a blatantly anti-semitic campaign against his Jewish opponent for a congressional seat in 1978. Gore's choice of Lieberman gives Bush a chance to show that there is real substance to his post-South Carolina sermons of inclusion.

Most presidential nominees claim they will choose running mates based on their ability to serve as president, rather than on the basis of political calculation. Bush and Gore actually lived up to that pledge. The selections of Cheney and Lieberman, two respected grown-ups, increase the chances that the remainder of this campaign can be conducted on a higher plane, focusing on issues, rather than on personal or partisan attacks. Lieberman's religion should be nothing more than an interesting footnote for an evolving democracy that, from John F. Kennedy and Geraldine Ferraro to Colin Powell and Joe Lieberman, has made a habit of breaking political taboos.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.