The Lieberman decision is making more sense to me now. I'm still upset, but the Lieberman issue was lite. Energy, health care, economy are monumental. Having an historical inauguration without the political infighting, that the Lieberman confrontation would have fueled, is what we need. A political confrontation would have set a different tone then what Obama has been promising and projecting. He is forgiving everyone's old bads, as they were part of the old way of doing politics in Washington, and giving everyone an opportunity to do better.

There are four million people who are estimated to be attending the inauguration. Imagine Obama setting the stage for a peaceful cooperative transition. He has the potential of drowning out and marginalizing all the extreme "divide and conquer" methods that had become 'politics as usual' in D.C. and replacing it with civility, respect for those who differ with you, honest debate, and the ability to disagree without being disagreeable.

Isn't that what we signed up for? Then why are so many of us (myself included) angry at Obama's decision to forgive Lieberman? Maybe because we are focusing on petty issues, the same petty issues that we have been trained to focus on over the past 16 divisive years?

The leader sets the tone.

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