If former Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Baines Johnson was still around today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) would not be holding health care hostage. Droopy Joe would be singing soprano in the choir.
It's long past time for Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) to ask, "WWLBJD?"
What Would Lyndon Baines Johnson Do ... with Joe Lieberman?
We all know the answer: by now, Joe would be an aging eunuch, looking around to find out which wall his proverbial drooping manhood had been nailed to.
If Harry Reid had some LBJ in him, Joe would not be Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. And if President Obama had some LBJ in him, Joe would find it very hard to get anything done on his pet projects in Connecticut.
Just imagine if a hypocritical, back-stabbing 1960s Lieberman had told LBJ that he was going to hold hostage the creation of Medicare or Medicaid or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 until LBJ met Lieberman's demands.
Ha. You could have sold tickets to that conversation.
First, LBJ might have just laughed and acted like Joe was kidding. Then he would have tried to charm him. But if Joe didn't back up very quickly and completely, LBJ would have gripped Joe's jacket lapel, pulled him close, and leaned that huge body and intense face into Joe's suddenly shrinking persona.
And he would have asked, "Joe, do you like that committee chairmanship?"
"Oh, God, no," Droopy Joe would have wailed. "Not my chairmanship."
Then LBJ would have told Joe that if he ever wanted another federal dollar to be spent in Connecticut, he might want to reconsider his game playing.
If Joe still didn't back up, LBJ would have flashed that big Texas smile and told him to have fun living in the wilderness.
And LBJ would have already had Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and all the blue dogs whipped into line. Along with a few Republican senators.
"Heel," LBJ would say. And the blue dogs would heel.
Of course, by now, Joe would have already been in the wilderness. Imagine what LBJ would have done if a 1960 Joe Lieberman had backed Nixon-Lodge against Kennedy-Johnson or a 1964 Lieberman had backed Goldwater-Miller against Johnson-Humphrey.
"Joe who?" LBJ would be saying today.
Yes, Harry Reid needs to ask, "WWLBJD?"