The Democratic party needs to find a leader who'll keep it from being taken over by the liberal wing — or it'll risk losing more elections, warns former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.
In an interview to air Sunday with radio host John Catsimatidis on "The Cats Roundtable," Lieberman stressed the importance of political cooperation between both parties.
"Here is my fear about the future of the Democratic Party," said the former Democrat who served as the party's 2000 vice presidential nominee. "In a way, relatively speaking, Hillary Clinton was representative of ... center-left of the Democratic Party, not the pure left."
"Now I think there will be a real attempt by 'the left' left of the Democratic Party to take over the party, and I don't think that's the way to go to make it an effective party," he warned. "It's certainly not the party that I got drawn to ... it's not the party that I worked so hard for when Bill Clinton was president and it's not going to be a winning party."
The remarks were posted on The Hill ahead of the Sunday broadcast.
Lieberman said he hopes incoming Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer of New York can both help anchor the party — and reach across the aisles to Republicans who will have majorities both in the upper chamber and the House.
"To me, both parties better watch out not to go back to the extremes —— left and right —— and not working with each other," he said.
"I think that the public really wants both parties to get together, work together and solve some of the problems of our country, make the future better."