The first moments of an interview with a major political figure are always surreal. The familiarity of the subject’s voice cuts against the novelty of engaging with someone for the first time. It is disorienting, to say the least.
This was the case when I spoke with the late Sen. Joseph Lieberman in early March.
I was a senior in high school when Lieberman came within a few hundred hanging chads in Florida of being elected vice president. Lieberman was never more than a few steps away from the center of the political universe in the proceeding quarter-century, from his bid for the 2004 Democratic nomination, his remarkable reelection to the Senate in 2006 despite losing his battle in the Democratic primary, his flirtation with becoming the late Sen. John McCain’s running mate in 2008, and finally, his tenure as founding chairman of the centrist political organization No Labels.
By the time we spoke, Lieberman’s voice was as familiar to me as a close friend. I can do a good Lieberman impression, too — not on the level of Jon Stewart’s famous “droopy dog” lampoon of the late senator, but good for a chuckle at a party.
Stewart’s impersonation was on my mind while Lieberman’s assistant patched me through in March. After saying hello, Lieberman apologized for his pinched voice, which was due to a cold he’d contracted during his travels overseas. It was too perfect.
The interview lasted about 45 minutes and could have gone much longer had I not apologetically mentioned the time. At 82 years old, he could not have been sharper or more intellectually hungry. He was determined to round out every point and see every argument through.
An interviewer gets used to the prepackaged nuggets of political performers. But with Lieberman, I had the distinct sense of being engaged, of being worn down and won over by an intellect superior to my own. It was a pleasure through and through. I’ll never forget it.
People say this about learning of a famous person who has died, but I was truly in disbelief when the headline dropped later that month. My first thought was that his cold had taken a turn for the worse. It seemed even stranger that he died due to complications from a fall. After all, how could a mere fall have taken down a man so fully alive?
The answer to that question — that it’s perfectly normal for people of a certain age, even powerful people with enormous political influence, to die with little warning — should set off alarm bells in the American body politic. No Labels shuttered its ambitions for a nation-changing third-party presidential bid almost immediately following the death of its powerful leader. It’s worth considering what would become of a political party — or indeed, a nation — if its elderly leader took a wrong step off a rally stage.
It’s been widely reported that former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee, appeared to fall asleep twice in court this week. Are we prepared for the possibility that the obese, stressed out, and relentlessly pessimistic 77-year-old might not wake up in the near future? The former president’s son Don Jr. is fond of saying that no one alive has “eaten more McDonald’s per capita” than his father. A sudden Trump death would cause both sides to storm America’s streets — do we have a plan to deal with this?
Even more concerning: a sudden demise of President Joe Biden, whose age and diminishing mental acuity require no explanation, is far too likely. Is America prepared to salute a President Kamala Harris? Because a President Kamala Harris could happen at any moment.
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Are we sleepwalking into a moment we don’t understand?
I, for one, wish Lieberman were here to help us wargame these scenarios and forge a practical path forward in the event of a sudden disaster.
Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, and the National Catholic Register.