...I was thinking we'd be better off accepting the Senate bill and moving on, but now Howard Dean—whose opinion I respect on this subject ahead of most anyone's—is saying we should kill the bill and go back to the House and start reconciliation. That would be the bold, "Fuck yeah!" thing to do. I'm not sure President Obama has the guts to do that at this point in time—he needs closure because he's had a year of seething hatred from the right and six or more months of incredible impatience and hysteria over dashed expectations from the left. It doesn't help him that the economy, while improving, is still considered in the dumps, something I think he's helped to improve, albeit imperfectly.

Still, reading Lieberman explicitly admitting he turned on the compromise only because the left found it appealing is beyond infuriating. It's not Obama's fault that he needs Lieberman for some of his initiatives, but if Lieberman is willing to destroy health care despite having been for it for years, there's no reason to believe he won't do the same thing on every other issue.