Don't get the idea that Al Gore chose Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his vice
presidential running mate in spite of the fact that Lieberman is a Jew. He
chose the senator from Connecticut because he is a Jew, who is
committed and unapologetic about his religious beliefs.

Lieberman took Gore's call over his car telephone on Monday, Aug. 7,
shortly after addressing a meeting of his state's labor movement.
Thankfully he wasn't driving at the time because it was an emotional
moment for him as well as every other Jew in America. After the formal
invitation to join the Democratic ticket was made, and accepted, the two
men, according to Lieberman, said a little prayer thanking God for
allowing them to arrive at such a moment. We Jews know this prayer as
the Shehekiyanu prayer.

The next day in Gore's home state of Tennessee, when he formally
announced Lieberman as his running mate, Gore said "Joe and I come from
different regions and different religious faiths, but we believe in a
common set of ideals, and we both believe with our whole resolve that, as
Americans, we must make real the great ideal that we are one country
with a common destiny." 

He drew a parallel between Lieberman, the first Jewish vice presidential
nominee, and John F. Kennedy, the first Roman Catholic to become
President. In 1960, at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles,
"we voted with our hearts to make history by tearing down an old wall of
division, and when we nominate Joe Lieberman for vice president, we will
make history again.," Gore declared. "We will tear down an old wall of
division once again. 

When his turn came to speak to the Tennessee crowd, Lieberman again
offered an English version of the Shehekiyanu prayer. Reiterating the
prayer, he added: "Dear Lord, Maker of all miracles, I thank You for
bringing me to this extraordinary moment in my life. And Al Gore, I thank
you for making this miracle possible for me and breaking this barrier for
the rest of America forever. God bless you. And thank you."

Lieberman quoted the Rev. Jesse Jackson as telling him: "You know,
Joe, each time a barrier falls for one person, the doors of opportunity open
wider for every other American."

Building on the analogy made by Gore to Kennedy's election as President,
Lieberman said "That election said so much to me about the courage and
the character and the fairness of the American people. And I want to say
to you today that choosing me as his running mate says the same thing
about the courage and character and fairness of Al Gore of Tennessee. 

"You know, there are some people who might actually call Al's
selection of me an act of chutzpah. I cannot express with words the
gratitude that I feel in my heart today as the first Jewish American to be
honored to be a major party candidate for the vice presidency of this
blessed United States of America of ours! But let's be very clear about
this: it isn't me, Joe Lieberman, who deserves the credit and the
congratulations for taking a bold step, it is Al Gore who broke this barrier
in American history!"

Gore's decision "shows Al's faith in the tolerance of this diverse nation,
in the basic fairness of the American people," Lieberman said. "And I
want to say to the people of America, Al Gore trusts you, which is one
good reason for you to place your trust in him as the next great president
of the United States."

* * * 

Such were the kind of unifying interfaith moments by which Gore, a
Southern Baptist, hopes to persuade the country that morality is not a
Republican slogan, but the deepest embodiment of American longing. 
Christians and Jews (as well as the many other religious groups who make
America great) need not be divided by their faiths. We can unite in a
common quest. By working together--not by being pulled apart--we can
set the goals for America in the 21st Century.

Gore and Lieberman had a friendship from the days prior to the Clinton
administration when both of them were serving together in the Senate. In
fact, Lieberman's religious observance helped to form that friendship.
Soon after he was sworn in as a Senator in 1989, Lieberman was faced
with a Senate session that was scheduled on Shabbat. He decided his
responsibilities required him to attend the session to do the public's
business. There is precedent for this in Jewish law, Lieberman believes:
even as a doctor may save a life on the Sabbath, so too may public
officials save lives through their official duties. On the other hand, as an
observant Jew, Lieberman decided that in keeping with the Shabbat he
must walk, rather than ride, to the Senate chambers. 

In Lieberman's In Praise of Public Life, the senator said he had been
planning on that Friday night to "sleep on a cot in the Senate gym until Al
Gore insisted I stay at his parents' apartment across the street. When I
see Al's wonderful mother, Pauline, she always calls me her tenant.'"

Lieberman constantly challenges himself with questions about what as an
observant Jew is the "right thing to do. " In 1988, for example, he
weighed whether he should attend a Democratic convention in Connecticut
at which he would be formally nominated for the U.S. Senate. It was a
great honor, delegates needed to see him, but the meeting was on a
Saturday. So, he videotaped an acceptance speech in advance, and kept the
Shabbat.

That Lieberman wrestles not only with questions of ritual, but also with
questions of societal morality, as why he is so admired by Democratic and
Republican colleagues alike in the Senate. It is also the reason why over
the years he has attracted to his banner people who feud like the Hatfields
and McCoys on other issues, but sense in Lieberman a man who plays by a
bigger rule book than the one written by partisan politicians.

His decision never to campaign on Shabbat was at first considered by
political observers to be a liability in his 1988 U.S. Senate race. However,
the mother of one of Connecticut's best known Catholic politicians,
Cornelius O'Leary, one day observed to her son "I like the fact that Joe
Lieberman is a religious man." 

Lieberman reported in his recent book that O'Leary told him in turn: "So
Joe, I now think your religious observance, which I thought might hurt you
because it requires you to miss so many days of campaigning, will
actually help elect you. It tells people that something matters to you
more than political success. My mother and her friends are Christian and
you're Jewish, but the fact that you so clearly share their belief in God
gives them a personal bond with you."

* * *

In the first rush of commentary after Lieberman's selection, Americans
were told that Al Gore wanted to distance himself from President Bill
Clinton's sordid affair with Monica Lewinsky, so he chose as his partner
the first Democratic Senator to forcefully denounce Clinton not only for
his immorality but for failing America's need for a leader who is an
exemplar.

While the commentators' analyses had some elements of truth to them,
they were a bit too facile. I don't know anyone who holds Al Gore
responsible for Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, so I don't know
why Gore should have to "distance" himself from the affair. What occurred
between the President and the intern obviously occurred in secret. Gore
just as obviously had nothing to do with it. 

Yet, Republicans seem engaged in a "guilt by association" campaign
against Gore, as unAmerican a tactic as any. The commentators seem to
accept the notion that Gore's reason for choosing Lieberman was to
acquire "honor by association" with a man known for his moral backbone. 
But Gore's motives were a lot more profound than that. With Lieberman at
his side, Gore will have the opportunity to elevate the level of discourse
among Americans about ethics and morality. 

One impediment to serious dialogue about these twin subject has been the
tendency both of politicians, who produce television commercials, and the
media, who interpret campaigns, to reduce what could be serious and
searching discussions to "sound bite" wars. 

Another obstacle has been the monopolization of this necessary discussion
by the Christian Right, creating fears on the Left and among other
religious groups that whatever the subject under consideration may be,
the real agenda of the Christian Right is to substitute some form of
theocracy for America's democratic institutions. 

As Lieberman himself describes it in his book, "When the left heard the
right use the term values,' they heard it as a code word for intolerance,
censorship, intrusive government and the loss of personal freedoms. When
the right heard the left use the word values,' they heard it as a synonym
for anything goes' an open door that allows and excuses any behavior with
little or no regard for its moral content or consequences in the
community; they saw it as an invitation to the breakdown of authority and
the loss of accountability that undermine many of our basic institutions
today."

With a Southern Baptist and a Jew campaigning together on the
Democratic ticket, the much needed national discussion about morality
and ethics can take on a completely different tone. Rather than an us-
versus-them debate, Gore and Lieberman pose the possibility of a national
"us and them" discussion. 

In Lieberman, Gore found a running mate who has written: "The greater the
power a person holds in government, the greater is his or her
responsibility to behave correctly because the worse are the effects of
peronal misbehavior on the government and the people he or she serves.
That is certainly the lesson the Bible teaches in many places, including,
poignantly, God's refusal to allow the great leader Moses to enter the
Promised Land because of his single loss of faith and control when he
struck the rock to get water. When a national leader makes himself
vulnerable, he thereby makes his government and his people vulnerable."

He also found in Lieberman a man whose heroes and supporters have come
from both sides of the political aisle: Lieberman quotes approvingly
Theodore Roosevelt's maxim: "My power vanishes into thin air the instant
my fellow citizens, who are straight and honest, cease to believe that I
represent them and fight for what is straight and honest. That is all the
strength I have."

The Democrats' interfaith ticket not only talks about the American dream;
it embodies the American dream.