Lieberman Regrets Obama Attacks

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said today he regrets attacking President-elect Barack Obama during the presidential campaign.

Lieberman escaped a closed-door Senate Democratic caucus vote today with his caucus membership and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairmanship intact. Democrats agreed on a resolution that condemned Lieberman for attacking Obama during the campaign but did not eject him from the caucus or strip his committee chairmanship, as some had called for. Nor did the resolution condemn Lieberman’s backing of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the presidential contest.

Speaking at a news conference following the vote, Lieberman had this to say:

The resolution expresses strong disapproval and rejection of statements that I made about Senator Obama during the campaign. And in that regard, I said very clear, some of the statements — some of the things that people have said I said about Senator Obama are simply not true.

There are other statements that I made that I wish I had made more clearly. And there are some that I made that I wish I had not made at all.

And, obviously, in the heat of campaigns, that happens to all of us, but I regret that. And now it’s time to move on.

Lieberman rankled Democrats this summer by suggesting Obama was not ready to lead the nation and that the Illinois Democrat had allowed political pressure to affect his outlook on Iraq.