Joe Lieberman Might Very Well Be a Genius

Amid accusations of treason, expressions of disbelief, and contrasts drawn to his effusive praise for Obama and the tremendous political destiny he envisioned for the Democratic nominee just two years ago, I'm starting to get the feeling that Joe's speech to the RNC is serving another purpose: Assuaging the feelings of the GOP upon their impending descent into minority rule in all branches of government for the foreseeable future, while allowing himself to put their aspirations into a larger context. 

Why? The first five minutes made the most generic case for bipartisanship one could muster. Country over party. The wisdom of the founding fathers. National Unity. Yadda yadda yadda. We've heard it all before. The only question is, assuming Obama's margin over his opponent remains this strong, assuming that he continues to effectively rally the Democratic party and successfully appeal to the unity of the electorate, and assuming that the GOP continues to marginalize itself along its fractious fault lines with increasingly irrational and ever-more incompetent decisions, to which party will Joe's words serve as the more important lesson come January 2009?

Joe's no fool. He can see which way the political winds are blowing. And he's preaching to his lost sheep - among the Republicans. Too many other nefarious and even more bizarre motives have been ascribed to Joe for this possibility to not be the most likely one.