The late Democratic-turned-Independent senator Joe Lieberman is the subject of Jonathan Gruber’s new documentary, Centered: Joe Lieberman.

“I have been a bipartisan centrist, really, throughout my career…It’s important to be open to civilized respectful debate with people to try and find common ground to get something done.” – Joe Lieberman in the opening moments of Centered: Joe Lieberman

Anyone reading my Buttondown newsletter already knows how Vice President Al Gore announcing Lieberman as his running mate in August 2000 would go onto shape my life. It played a key role in my becoming politically active while in high school. As you can imagine, the film immediate piqued my interest upon learning about its Washington, DC premiere last fall. Unfortunately, my awards season schedule had me way too busy to watch the screener at the time. Thanks to the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival screening, I finally had time to watch Centered: Joe Lieberman ahead of its March 18-19 screenings exclusively at Regal Cinemas.

That August day had a few things going for it. For one, Al Gore selected Lieberman to seek distance from Clinton’s scandal. But more importantly, it was the day that said, yes, a Jewish person can run for the second highest office in the land. But even more than being Jewish, Lieberman is Orthodox and that’s important, too. Things were tense and ultimately, the Supreme Court ended the Florida recount, but the Gore-Lieberman ticket won the popular vote. Had the recount been allowed to finish, maybe they’d have won the Electoral College, too. Had that been the case, Centered: Joe Lieberman would be a very different film.

As Matt Lieberman notes, Lieberman’s candidacy for vice president “was a watershed event, emotionally, for a lot of Jewish-Americans.” He’s not wrong. Again, my really becoming involved in politics dates back to the nomination. It’s a large part of why I find myself so nostalgic watching Centered: Joe Lieberman. I honestly had tears by the end of the film. Watching clips of his funeral will do that, let alone listening to Sen. looking back on his life and career.

I do want to touch on a few things about some of Matt’s overall comments in Centered: Joe Lieberman. One, there’s a surge of antisemitism at the moment. Both Matt and his father bring up the blowback that the senator was getting from the likes of MoveOn following the Iraq War vote. I was a political blogger during 2004-2012, prior to turning the blog into an outlet for book reviews. What I saw on Daily Kos and MyDD about Lieberman was no shortage of disgusting antisemitic rhetoric during those years. It’s why I’m not surprised about the left-wing anti-Jewish hate in the past 16+ months, especially the far-left.

Conference of Presidents CEO/Vice Chair Emeritus Malcolm Hoenlein remarks on the 2000 vice presential nomination:

“There are elements in the country who wouldn’t want a Jew be a heartbeat away from the presidency. But frankly, if there was any Jew we want to see in that position, knowing that he would do the community proud, he would do the country proud, it was Joe Lieberman.”

Centered: Joe Lieberman covers the senator’s life and career. Much of it is the biographical type as far as his time in public office. He started out serving ten years in the Connecticut State Senate before losing a congressional race in 1980. He soon rebounded when he ran for State Attorney General and won in 1982, serving until winning an election to the U.S. Senate in 1988. He found his place in the U.S. Senate and that was through working with the other side. He stuck to his integrity, even if it meant calling out President Bill Clinton–a friend dating back to the State Senate campaign–for his wrongdoing.

“He said, ‘I was hurt by your speech, but I agree with everything you said. I made a terrible mistake. I’m working very hard to make sure I never do it again.’ And I always felt that what he had done, as reprehensible as it was, didn’t constitute impeachable acts. None of us is perfect. He stumbled and fell. As I said in my speech, we’re all sinners.”

Lieberman sought to work with Republicans, joining John McCain and Lindsey Graham in becoming the Three Amigos. Unfortunately, his working with Republicans and some of his political views would prove to be his downfall. Being a Democrat that supported the Iraq War was not a popular decision for many within the Democratic Party. And yet, Lieberman stuck with his guts. He paid a hard price for it, too. He lost the 2006 U.S. Senate primary campaign, only to run as an independent and won. A big revelation in the Centered: Joe Lieberman is the senator’s regret for his 2003 vote for the Iraq War. It comes about 48 minutes into the film:

“Of course, if I had known that we would have made the mistakes we did after Saddam was overthrown and that so many lives—Iraqi, mostly, but also American, of course, soldiers—would be lost, and so much money would be spent by the U.S., I probably would have said it’s not worth it.”

Even though he caucused with the Senate Democrats, Centered: Joe Lieberman shows how he was punished for endorsing John McCain in 2008. He stayed on as the Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee chairman but lost his role as a chairman on an Environment and Public Works subcommittee. Lieberman opens up on his decision to endorse McCain over then-Senators Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton’s presidential runs.

“I was friendly, very friendly with Hillary for a long time, and with Obama. Neither of them asked for my support. Why? Because I had the scarlet I for Iraq on my forehead.”

The senator reflects on the night that then-Senator Barack Obama won the presidency and how he wasn’t there in Centered: Joe Lieberman:

“This was a magic moment in American history, that an African-American man was about to be president of the United States. But I wasn’t there, or I wasn’t part of it.”

Lieberman was in the U.S. Senate when Obamacare was up for debate. It isn’t just that his vote is because of his political legacy but the debate leading up to it. Centered: Joe Lieberman gives the former senator time to reflect on the healthcare debate all these years later. His comments are weaved in with archival clips.

“I was deeply devoted to Obamacare. I’d been working for healthcare reform from when I got to the Senate in the early 90s. Public option was put in by members of Congress who really wanted a national health insurance program, but it would radically change healthcare in America and make it worse. I never thought that public option was really important to the White House and to President Obama. When I said clearly that I wouldn’t support the bill if it was in, they took it out and I was, you might say, the 60th vote for Obamacare, which has provided health insurance for millions of people who couldn’t afford it before.

“It continues to live periodically that I was the guy who ruined the chance of national health insurance. I did not oppose the public option because there were health insurance companies in Connecticut. I opposed it because I thought it would bust open our national debt and it would be bad for healthcare in America. Again, sometimes, if you do it your way, you have to take the blow as Sinatra sang.”

People don’t realize just how liberal Joe Lieberman was on many political issues. Centered: Joe Lieberman puts all the cards on the table. He was liberal on the environment and yes, he was liberal on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and pushed for its repeal. DADT was a compromise between Clinton and the military. Lieberman felt it was “unfair.” The gay community asked him to take a leadership on the matter. The Senate repealed it 65-31 with 8 Republican votes, including Susan Collins. “That was one of the most satisfying moments of my legislative career,” Lieberman recalls.

He might have retired from the Senate after the 2012 election but he never quit public service. Centered: Joe Lieberman features a montage of clips from his post-Senate years. He served as a member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. In July 2023, he addressed the Free Iran World Summit 2023. In the final months of his life, he could be found speaking out after the barbaric October 7 attack. One of the final clips in the film shows him commenting on Senator Chuck Schumer’s major Senate address on a Pathway to Peace and Achieving a Two-State Solution.

“He’s been dedicated to public policy since he left the Senate,” former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle says in Centered: Joe Lieberman.

He was involved with No Labels as a founding co-chair. No Labels opted against fielding a presidential candidate in 2024, believing that none had a pathway to win the White House and they were not going to spoiler. Lieberman touches on the current state of affairs in Centered: Joe Lieberman.

“People are very pessimistic about America’s future, which is not the way America’s been in our best days. I think this is the next step to try and break the iron hold that partisanship has had on our political system, so I take my inspiration from Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson said he believed in a little political rebellion every so often, which was important in politics as storms are in the natural world. I take it he meant to remove the deadwood.”

It’s truly fascinating to watch Centered: Joe Lieberman at a very different time in American history. The country couldn’t be more partisan than it is at the moment. We’re a far cry from the early 2000s. But no matter how bad things were in the early 2000s, America didn’t have a Russian asset elected to the presidency. That’s where we are right now. Lieberman was a statesman who sought unity and bipartisanship–values that, again, are virtually non-existent right now. None of his values played off on Mitch McConnell or Lindsey Graham because they went all in on Trump’s re-election. Finding the likes of civility, moderation, and dialogue with the other side is easier said than done.

Say what you will about Senator Joe Lieberman’s own political legacy, Centered: Joe Lieberman shows that he stayed true to his values, for better or worse. He really did it his way.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Jonathan Gruber
FEATURING: Senator Joe Lieberman, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Senator Susan Collins, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Senator Chris Dodd, Philip Dufour, Senator Lindsey Graham, Jim Kennedy, Michael Lewan, Hadassah Lieberman, Matt Lieberman, Rebecca Lieberman, Rabbi Ethan Tucker, Hani Lowenstein, Ellen Lieberman, Ambassador Cindy McCain, Kiki McLean, Ambassador Tom Nides, Clarine Nardi Riddle, Nick Balletto, John Droney, Vinnie Mauro Jr., Tom McCarthy, Charlie Black, Kara Voght, David Lightman, Tom Daschle

Centered: Joe Lieberman holds its Southeast Premiere during the 2025 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Regal Cinemas will screen Centered: Joe Lieberman on March 18-19, 2025. Grade: 4.5/5

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