Lieberman Joins Conservative American Enterprise Institute

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut will join the American Enterprise Institute to help lead an effort by the conservative think tank to rebuild bipartisan consensus on foreign-policy issues.

“There is an urgent need to rebuild a bipartisan — indeed non-political — consensus for American diplomatic, economic, and military leadership in the world,” Lieberman said on Monday in a statement reported by Politico.

Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s vice presidential running mate in 2000 and a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, will serve as co-chairman of the institute’s American Internationalism Project.

He will serve with former GOP Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who also retired from the Senate in January, Politico reports.

A longtime moderate Democrat, Lieberman lost the Senate primary in 2006 to Ned Lamont, Politico reports. He ran as an independent and was reelected and generally has caucused with the Democrats.

In 2008, Lieberman declined to back Barack Obama for president — supporting instead GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona. He also addressed the Republican National Convention that year, Politico reports.