Rosner's Domain: Joe Lieberman helps Obama re-educate the Democratic base

So, Senator Joe Lieberman will retain his position as Chaiman of the Homeland Security Committee. Not a huge surprise for those following the Lieberman drama in recent weeks and smarter than fifth graders. In truth, all you need is the ability of a fourth grader to do the math. With Lieberman: maybe sixty (Senators caucusing with the Democratic majority in the Senate). Without him: definitely less than sixty. A week ago, in Michael Tomasky's blog, there was a short and crisp explanation of the Joe Lieberman dilemma:

Lieberman crossed a line you don't cross in politics without expecting that there will be repercussions. But he needs to keep him in the fold, too, if it's possible. Tricky.

Add to the mix the personal element, as demonstrated by Democratic powerful Senators working for their old friend (the Politico was first to report that "Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) are all involved in the effort, according to top Senate Democratic aides. These four senators - along with other Lieberman allies - are reaching out to the rest of the Democratic Senate caucus to try to ensure Lieberman survives a secret ballot vote on whether to strip him of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee").

And you got a smiling Lieberman, and an angry base. Many Democrats wanted Lieberman to disappear, many of them despise him. "If Lieberman retains the chairmanship, how will the base, who loathes the Independent Senator, react?" Chris Cillizza wrote a couple of days ago. "On the eve of the vote", he wrote this morning, "the netroots were a-blaze with anti-Lieberman rhetoric".

Didn't help much, did it?

I think this is only the beginning of a long, sometimes devastating re-education of the radical wing of the Democratic Party. Obama - as proved by his support for Lieberman to retain his chairmanship and also by his possible intention to appoint Clinton to head his foreign policy team (read "Cabinet post for Clinton roils Obamaland") – isn't going to fulfill the many dreams of his young and restless enthusiasts. Obama is now president-elect, and it's time to be a grownup. Lieberman - without even having such intention - is actually helping Obama and his friends. His reappointment will send them a sobering message: you can't always get what you want.

 Whose President is he? Asked the NYT earlier this week:

 The standard line from his advisers would naturally be that he's the president of all Americans. But it rarely works out that simply. Ultimately, the gauzy picture of the campaign trail sharpens in the act of governing. Ultimately, choices are made and illusions shattered. And so many of Mr. Obama's supporters invested so much passion in him that the potential for let-down seems considerable.

 Now take the last sentence and re-write: instead of "potential", write "certainty". Instead of "seems considerable", write "is now reality".