John McCain: Joe Lieberman For SecDef

John McCain thinks that his friend Joe Lieberman would make a great Secretary of Defense:

Sen. John McCain has the perfect next job for his friend Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who announced Wednesday he won’t run for re-election to the Senate next year: Secretary of Defense.

McCain, who nearly chose Lieberman to be his running mate on the GOP ticket in 2008, called on President Barack Obama to consider the Pentagon post for the retiring senator.

“You know it’s funny you mention it,” McCain said in a phone interview with CNN when asked if Obama ought to consider the move. “I really hope that the president would consider him. I hadn’t thought about it but I sure hope, whatever happens, he will play a major role on national security issues.”

McCain said Lieberman would be qualified for the job, calling his colleague “one of the most informed members of the Senate on national security issues and homeland security issues.”

It isn’t actually a bad idea, but I doubt it will happen given what Lieberman said about Obama during the 2008 campaign

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. michael reynolds says:

    Gates is going to be very hard to replace. He’s the living definition of a selfless public servant. I hope when he is finally allowed to escape he finds a nice beach-front bar and takes a couple of months to savor the mojitos.

  2. Alex Knapp says:

    Michael,

    I’m with you. I have been thouroughly impressed by Mr. Gates in every way.

  3. mantis says:

    McCain and Lieberman still think the position is still Secretary of War. Starting wars is all that really interests them.

  4. anjin-san says:

    Ditto on Gates. A very, very impressive guy. I hope we can keep him at his desk for a few more years.

    As for McCain, Obama was pretty generous with him after becoming President. He more or less got a poke in the eye in return. Good luck to him in getting his faux Democrat buddy a cabinet position.

  5. Yes it is a bad idea. We don’t need an Iran War Hawk as Sec Def.