The repercussions of Democratic Presidential candidate Al Gore’s seminal selection of Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate are not only helping to decide the presidential election, but also are being felt on the wider national Jewish and political scenes. The Vice Presidential selection was a transparent attempt by Gore to distance himself from President Clinton’s scandals. Joe Lieberman has often been referred to as the “conscience of the Senate”. He has repeatedly denounced the pornographic and violent products of Hollywood. Lieberman was also the first Democrat in the Senate to denounce Clinton during the Lewinsky affair, though he didn’t vote for impeachment. The political wisdom of Gore’s pick of Leiberman was immediately confirmed. Gore had been trailing 17 points in the polls prior to the selection of Lieberman, but within a few days Gore was tied with Bush in the polls. At that time there was a chorus of approval for Lieberman. Literally, no one had anything bad to say about him. Indeed, Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Dick Cheney stated his wish that Lieberman was a Republican. The one element that now permeates Lieberman’s public persona has been his religion. He is of course the first Jewish Vice Presidential candidate. Yet, if Lieberman were just ethnically Jewish, he would not be as historically unique as he is. There have been Jewish Prime Ministers in Europe, such as Leon Blum of France. Unlike those men, Lieberman is an Orthodox Jew. For the Jewish community this appointment is critical, because both the Jewish right and left constantly assert that the only way that the Jewish people can be acclimated to modern society is at the expense of the Torah. Joe Lieberman may help prove this concept wrong. Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew and a Senator at the same time, was chosen precisely because of his religion,...
