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WASHINGTON - Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) today made the following statement on the nomination of Condoleezza Rice to be Secretary of State. Lieberman intends to vote in favor of Rice’s nomination when the Senate considers it this week.
FLOOR STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOE LIEBERMAN
January 25, 2005
Mr. President: I have always believed that our responsibility to advise and consent does not mean that we have to agree with every opinion or every action that the nominee has ever taken, but that that nominee deserves the benefit of the doubt and that our responsibility is to determine whether the nominee is fit for the position for which the President has nominated him or her and whether the nominee, in our judgment, will serve in the national interest. And I conclude that Dr. Condoleezza Rice meets that standard, at least, and much more.
Secondly, this element of the context in which this nomination is put before us: we are at war. It is a war unlike any we have ever fought before. And here I speak of the world war with Islamic terrorism. It is joined on battlefield in places like Iraq, of course, but it is being fought in the shadows and corners against an enemy that is driven by a fanaticism and acts without regard to human life – others’ or their own.
I embrace the best tradition of American foreign policy that always has said that partisanship should end at the nation’s shores. And note that it doesn’t say policy differences should end. It doesn’t say ideological differences should end. It says partisanship should end at the nation’s shores, particularly so when our nation is engaged in a war – a global war on terrorism, a war in Iraq in which Americans have already lost their lives in the cause of freedom and in protection of our security.
The nomination of a Secretary of State in a second term of a president naturally is an opportunity, appropriately, for people to raise questions about the foreign policy of that Administration. But in the final analysis I hope it is also an opportunity around this very qualified nominee for us to come together and say to one another and to the world – both our enemies and our allies – that in the final analysis Americans will stand together, shoulder to shoulder, against terrorism – against the enemy – in pursuit of the freedom and liberty and opportunity that Dr. Rice spoke of in her opening statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and that President Bush spoke to in his Inaugural Address last week.
One of the great strengths that Condoleezza Rice will bring to the office of Secretary of State is that the world knows that she has the President’s trust and confidence and I respect the right of any of my colleagues to reach a different decision today and to oppose this nomination. But I hope and believe that the Senate today, across partisan lines, will resoundingly endorse this nomination and send the message to friend and foe alike that while we have our disagreements, ultimately what unites us around this very qualified nominee in this hour of war is much greater than what divides us.
In times like these it is important that the world not only knows that this Secretary of State has the ear of the President, but that she has – if you will allow me to put it this way – America’s heart. A heart that beats with the freedom and security and opportunity that we dream of for our own people and for the people of the world.
In the world today, we face a time of such grave peril and great promise. It is in many ways like the time that our predecessors faced after the Second World War at the outbreak of the Cold War.
Now, as then, a hostile ideology threatens freedom around the world, as terrorism has replaced communism as liberty’s foremost foe.
Now, as then, it is the United States that must show leadership and resolve, as the world’s strongest nation, in the face of this danger, from terrorism, to life and liberty. Not just ours, but everyone who does not exactly agree with the terrorists.
Now, as then, the President and members of Congress must depend on the advice and counsel of the Secretary of State as we craft policies with an unblinking resolve that will rally our friends and rattle our enemies, that will diminish, we pray eliminate, the perils we face and realize the extraordinary promises of our time.
As our very first Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson once wrote: “We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others without fearing it.”
Jefferson’s 18th Century insights will serve us well in the face of the 21st Century threats that we confront. I know that Dr. Rice understands and appreciates that well.
Economic development and trade and foreign direct investment and the spread of modern technology and telecommunications has raised the standard of living throughout the world and connected people of the world as never before. But too many nations and people left behind – because of failed governments or failed economies. They have become breeding grounds for terrorists that threaten us all.
Today there is hope. Embers of democracy are beginning to glow where that powerful light has existed little or none before. The Afghans and the Palestinians have recently held successful elections, and this Sunday Iraq will hold an historic democratic election. I know the circumstances are difficult there but having been there myself just a few weeks ago I can speak with some confidence that the turnout will be large and the affirmation of the Iraqi people for a better freer future will be clear.
Now whether those embers grow into beacons for the rest of the Arab world or fade into dark and cold will depend uniquely upon strong, skillful American leadership and diplomacy. And I conclude that Dr. Condoleezza Rice is capable of such leadership.
Nuclear proliferation threatens the world as Iran and North Korea – and perhaps others – strive to develop deadly weapons that will make the arms race of the Cold War look sane in comparison.
In response to these dangers President Bush in his Inaugural Address and Dr. Rice in her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week have set down some basic principles which will guide our foreign and defense policy. They are based on values and hopes that have defined America: freedom, opportunity, faith and community.
Let me read a paragraph from Dr. Rice’s opening statement to the Foreign Relations Committee last Tuesday:
“In these momentous times, American diplomacy has three great tasks.
“First, we will unite the community of democracies in building an international system that is based on our shared values and the rule of law.
“Second, we will strengthen the community of democracies to fight the threats to our common security and alleviate the hopelessness that feeds terror.
“And third, we will spread freedom and democracy throughout the globe. That is the mission that President Bush has set for America in the world - and the great mission of American diplomacy today.”
Let me read just a few words from President Bush’s Inaugural last Thursday:
“We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
“This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities.
“Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country.
“The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: ‘Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.’”
These principles and policies are neither Republican nor Democratic, they are American. In fact, the words spoken by President Bush last Thursday could just as easily have been spoken by some of the great Democratic presidents like Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. In fact, similar words were spoken by each of those Democratic presidents at times of crisis, similar in many ways to our own.
I hope, therefore, that we will now come together to implement those principles and policies in a way that will spread hope and security and build bridges throughout the world, that the President will reach out to members of both Parties in Congress and we in turn will reach out, halfway at least, and meet him to implement these stirring, uniquely American goals, the policies and principles, with real programs that are effective with public diplomacy and outreach, of economic development, of trade of rule of law but ultimately most important the spread of freedom and democracy. I conclude that Dr. Condoleezza Rice is uniquely prepared by ability and experience to lead this effort as Secretary of State.
And now, Mr. President, I want to say a final word about Dr. Rice herself, who I have come to know over the years. President Bush has clearly nominated Dr. Rice to be Secretary of State because he values her experience, he knows her skill and he trusts her counsel.
No one believes that this president chose this nominee for Secretary of State fore reasons of gender or race. No one here will vote for her in the Senate for reasons of gender or race. But the fact is that that Dr. Condoleezza Rice is an African American woman and I think in addition to every other standard by which we judge and respond to this nomination we should celebrate the fact that when she is confirmed another barrier will be broken in American life. And we should celebrate this fact because Dr. Rice’s life speaks to the promise of America and in very personal terms says to people throughout the world what America is about and what we hope for them.
Let us speak directly. Dr. Rice, born in 1954 in the then racially segregated South, knew the sting of bigotry. No one on the day of her birth could have rationally predicted that she would grow up to be the Secretary of State of the United States of America. But she was blessed with great natural abilities, with a strong family, with an abiding faith in God.
She worked hard, as others worked in her time to break the barriers of segregation, to establish the rule of law, to create opportunity. She has earned the nomination that the President has given her.
And just as no one in Birmingham, when this African American girl was born in 1954, could have dreamed that she would grow up to be Secretary of State of the most powerful country in the world, there are babies being born today in Baghdad and Ramallah and Kabul and Riyadh and countries and cities throughout the world where no one could dream that they might grow up to be president of their nation or prime minister or foreign minister or president of a high-tech enterprise or a professor at a great university. But they will if we, working with the people of their countries, will it.
A great man once said that if you will it, it is no dream. And in this hour when our security is being threatened the promise of opportunity can, in response to the source of those threats, become real for tens of millions of children being born and growing up in places today where there is no freedom and no hope. That is the great vision that our country has today.
I know that Dr. Rice understands that. Her life speaks to the brave men and women like Dr. Rice who have, working with others, changed our nation. Now she can, and I believe will, help lead our nation to change the world and in doing so to advance our values and protect our security for our children and grandchildren as well.
I urge my colleagues to support the nomination of Dr. Condoleezza Rice to be Secretary of State.
I thank the Chair and I yield the floor.
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