Lieberman: I Always Liked Obama

Once a McCain ally, Lieberman now praises the president
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 9, 2009 9:20 AM CDT
Lieberman: I Always Liked Obama
In this Monday, Jan. 29, 2007 picture, Barack Obama and Joe Lieberman take a bus tour through the Lower 9th Ward after a Senate Homeland Security Committee on Katrina and Rita recovery in New Orleans.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

He endorsed John McCain in the election and called Barack Obama "a talker," but now Joe Lieberman is singing "Hail to the Chief." The Democratic-turned-independent senator has been showering the president with praise, saying Obama has "shown real leadership" and "is off to a very good start." But as the AP reports, Lieberman bridles when asked if he has embraced Obama for political expediency.

"I haven't changed," Lieberman insisted, blaming his seeming turnabout on his own failure to speak clearly during the campaign. Lieberman nearly lost his committee chairmanship before Obama interceded, which the senator called "very gracious." But voters in Connecticut may not show such forgiveness; a hypothetical match-up between Lieberman and a Democratic challenger shows the incumbent getting trounced by 28 points.
(More Joe Lieberman stories.)

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