Reply #1: Yesterday, I imagined him pinned up and hanging from a clothesline [View All]

[eleny]

It's as if Obama took all the wind out of his sails by urging Dems to keep him. So he pinned him up by the back of his collar and sent him out on a clothesline to dangle in the breeze. If he gets assignments and refuses to take action or if he doesn't vote with the caucus when Obama wants him to, Joe is done.

I'm thinking that Obama knows we have a huge majority in the Senate and wants to wait to see if some Republicans will vote with him to make the 60 without Lieberman. Right now, we just don't know if Collins and a few others will join us on some issues.

Lieberman's irrelevance is yet to be determined. This act of forgiveness by Obama deflates Lieberman right now. You could also say Obama moved a chess piece and said "Check".

Edited to add: There are still three Senate races to be determined. Obama's decision could rest on how those races turn out. By doing this, there's no fight to make the news and spoil this happy time..