Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he wishes President Obama would “blow the whistle and really appeal to both parties to cut the negatives, the nastiness, the unfounded charges.”
“There’s been so much nastiness all around honestly, both parties. The whole campaign has been so negative that I think this is an election where most people are going to go to the poll and vote against somebody, not vote for somebody, and that’s not good for our country,” the senator said last night on Fox.
“I’m an independent,” he added. “I think most independents want to know what’s the president going to do in a second term, what’s Romney’s going to do in a first term if he’s elected. And the kind of name-calling that’s going on now just brings the whole process down, and makes people distrust their government.”
The former vice presidential nominee said it’s a “dramatically different campaign” from Obama’s hope-and-change mantra in 2008.
“Look, I was for John McCain in 2008, so I knew how it was to be running in a campaign against Barack Obama. I mean, he was walking on a mountaintop. He was a transformational figure. Everybody felt very good. The country needed it. And that’s why he won that election,” Lieberman said.
“But now, you know, it’s different. He’s been president for four years, things are not as better as he hoped they’d be, and the country hoped they’d be. So, too much of the — in my opinion, too much of the Obama campaign is negative about Romney.”
Lieberman said he hasn’t decided who will get his vote this year.
“I could vote for Governor Romney, I could vote for President Obama. But the president is saying, it would have been worse if I hadn’t been president. That’s tough to run on,” he said. “And so I think really, a better thing to say is here’s what I’m going to do in a second term. Just give me an opportunity to do this again. And Governor Romney has got to be really clear based on all of his experiences what he would do differently.”
Lieberman said on CNN this morning that one of the big pluses of being an independent is no longer having to attend fundraisers.
“I don’t have to go to either party convention,” he said. “I mean, think about the extra time I have to actually try to be a good senator and maybe a good family guy.”
The senator reiterated that “the campaign has, I think, already set records for nastiness and negativity.”
“I hope this name calling changes to actual discussions about what they would do about tax reform and spending and entitlements and how they balance the budget,” Lieberman said.
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