AEI picks up Joe-mentum

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will join a project with former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) on American leadership at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank.

AEI announced Monday that Lieberman will join Kyl as co-chair of the American Internationalism Project, a new effort to be housed inside AEI’s Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies. Kyl joined AEI as a fellow earlier this month. Lieberman is not joining AEI in a formal sense, but he will be a leader of this project, which will be coordinated by AEI research fellow Phillip Lohaus.

"The impetus for the project was an overall feeling of creeping isolationism in an era of fiscal austerity," Lohaus told The Cable. "There’s a sense that the feeling that America is a force for good in the world is losing traction. This project is an attempt to redefine the conversation as America as a force for good."

The project is meant to present a cogent counter argument to the rise of neo-isolationism in Washington, as evidenced by the increased popularity of figures such as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Lohaus said. Over the next few weeks, AEI will announce a steering committee of foreign policy heavyweights that Lohaus promised would represent a broad range of political views from both parties.

After the steering committee is announced and meets, AEI will set up a series of working groups that will be tasked with producing papers, research products, and potentially public events.

"There is an urgent need to rebuild a bipartisan — indeed non-political — consensus for American diplomatic, economic, and military leadership in the world," said Lieberman in a press release. "That’s why I am grateful to AEI for initiating and sponsoring this project and why I look forward to leading it with my friend Jon Kyl."

"Senator Joseph Lieberman’s knowledge, deep commitment and vision for American greatness is all too rare in Washington," said AEI president Arthur C. Brooks in the release. "The American Internationalism Project, under the leadership of Senator Lieberman and Senator Jon Kyl, is critical to opening a discussion about the challenges facing America in the coming decades–and strategizing about how to meet them."