Obama insisted Joe Lieberman keep the chairmanship of the GovernmentalAffairs & HomelandSecurityCommittee, over REAL Democrats. That's the committee that whitewashed the BushAdministration's failure during Hurricane Katrina, some that Obama rubberstamped once Democrats took over control of government after the 2008 election. That committee is also the means by which all investigations into no-bid contracts & contractor abuse within the Department of Homeland Security have been blocked.
Chairing committees is what Senators aspire to. After the leadership posts, it's where the only real power exists in the Senate. Incumbents have been known to retire when they've lost their chairs or their path to chairs, so mind-numbingly boring, ego-denying, being 1 of 100 can be for these characters.
Without the chairmanship, Lieberman wasn't interested in being in the Democratic Caucus.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15401.html
So what would be the benefit of Lieberman remaining as chair on this committee?:
Candidate Obama certainly implied he'd be investigating Katrina -
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0608/McCains_Katrina_claim_gets_rapidly_factchecked.html
And Obama busted McCain for NOT only not voting for it, but for lying about it and saying that he had supported investigating Katrina:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/05/hopefully-a-preview-of-obamas-campaign-strategy/
On 2/2/06, Obama voted yes, along with Lieberman, to establish a congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?c>
But once Obama got in office, once Lieberman got into the Democratic Caucus and resume his chairmanship of the Governmental Affairs & Homeland Security Committee, "We're looking forward, not back."
About Government Shutdown
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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