Lieberman Plays Down McCain's Suggestion he Serve as Secretary of Defense

Republican Sen. John McCain thinks that retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman would make a worthy Secretary of Defense, but Lieberman said this morning he isn't expecting the job. Yet the Independent senator from Connecticut didn't rule out the idea, either.

After four terms in the Senate, Lieberman announced yesterday that he is retiring and has yet to decide what his next move will be.

McCain, a close friend and ally of Lieberman's, told CNN that he thought Lieberman would be a good addition to President Obama's cabinet, given that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has stated his interest in stepping down this year.

"I really hope that the president would consider him," McCain said in response to a question from CNN. "I hadn't thought about it but I sure hope, whatever happens, he will play a major role on national security issues."

Lieberman notably backed McCain over Mr. Obama in the 2008 presidential elections, even though Lieberman had been a Democrat for years. In 2006, he lost Connecticut's Democratic Senate primary but won re-election by leaving the party and running as an independent. McCain told CNN that he didn't think that history would keep the president from considering Lieberman.

"I know one thing, that the president has reached out to people that otherwise, maybe a couple of years ago, he wouldn't have given serious consideration," he said, "but I can't divine the views of the president."

On MSNBC this morning, Lieberman said he was "honored" by the suggestion, but he added, "I'm not expecting anything, I'm not asking for anything."

Lieberman is one of the most hawkish members of the Senate to vote with the Democratic caucus and has focused on security as chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He said on MSNBC this morning that he still believes his vote for the Iraq war was the right decision, in spite of the fact that it has since been revealed there were no weapons of mass destruction there.

In an interview with Newsmax this week, Lieberman said "it's too early to say" whether he would endorse Mr. Obama in the 2012 election, but he praised the president's foreign policy moves.

"President Obama has done some things, particularly in foreign policy, that I think have been really solid," he said. "I haven't agreed with everything that he's done, but I think he's building a decent record."