Barack Obama will need to hit the ground running, and so they will take every vote they can, whether it's Joe Lieberman's or some random Republican's. What we have learned from the last two years of campaigning is that Barack Obama is a pragmatist, and he does get things done.

Yes Cenk is right that Barack Obama has not been a fighter, or challenged President Bush near enough for my liking.  However he did get elected being a black man with the name of "Barack Hussein Obama" which was no small feat.  

I may be wrong, but I get the feeling from Barack Obama that he is always looking at how to win the war, and not just a single battle.  This can be dangerous, because if you lose too many battles, you can't win the war, and Obama is also fighting the anchor of recent Democratic leadership which has been surely lacking.

If we think back the last few months, Cenk and a number of liberal bloggers and Democratic strategists were complaining about Barack Obama, that he was not fighting back, that he didn't stand up to the Republican smears, that he was not showing spine, and he was making the same mistake as John Kerry. But he was not making the same mistake. Yes he stayed cool under pressure and he won. He won by being way smarter than us and especially the Republicans.

I truly believe from what I have seen is that President-elect Barack Obama has more backbone and spine than the Democrats have demonstrated over the last two decades. I truly believe he has a plan and a strategy for dealing with Lieberman and those Republicans he can pull to his side.  

We are no longer dealing with the same Republican Party that we were dealing with just two years ago. They are no longer as disciplined, or as cohesive. They no longer have one leader, and if Barak Obama plays it right he will take advantage of the fissures.

Yes Joe Lieberman is a lying, back-stabbing, opportunist. I want him to be stripped of his chair, not only because he is a liar, but because he was incompetent. I would not trust him an inch, but if he is handled correctly he becomes irrelevant. Kick him out of the caucus and he is a martyr and would actually have some power.

At some point we need to trust that Barack Obama knows what he is doing. He keeps proving to me that he knows what he is doing. Till it's proven otherwise, I have to trust.