Via Jane Hamsher, things are looking up for Joe Lieberman and his relationship with Connecticut Democrats over two years after he defeated the Democratic Party’s nominee for Senate.

In Connecticut, it may have taken some energy from a campaign to have the Democratic State Central Committee censure Lieberman. The committee is supposed to consider the censure Dec. 17.

“I can tell you, certainly, that the fact that President-elect Obama comes and says he wants him back in the caucus has made some people step back,” said Nancy DiNardo, the Democratic state chairwoman.

Lieberman’s camp was happy to amplify the sentiment. One Lieberman supporter on Capitol Hill said, “There is no taste for retribution at this time.”

Another way to look at this is that Joe Lieberman has always wanted to stay in the Democratic caucus and have a powerful committee chair – Homeland Security. The way things are going, Lieberman is not only going to get what he wants, he’s going to get more. He’s going to have his reputation rehabilitated and he will return to the Senate after campaigning viciously against Barack Obama, having attained even more power and credibility than before his work as a hatchet man for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

It’s hard to comprehend a more remarkable situation. If this is what ends up happening and if Joe Lieberman thought that this was a likely outcome for him even if he campaigned for John McCain and against Barack Obama,  then I think it’s time we recognize the fact that Joe Lieberman understands the Democratic Party and its persistent timidity better than any Washington politician or grassroots activist. His successes put the rest of us to shame, which is to say nothing of the absolute humiliation he is heaping upon the Democrats who are now fighting in his corner.