Those who are up in arms over Sen. Joe Lieberman’s "veto" of the extension of Medicare should remember this. When Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Washington, D.C. in 2005, he selected as his mentor none other than: Joe Lieberman.

Here’s David Sirota writing about this, after discussing Obama’s stab in the back of the progressive Lamont in Connecticut and his stab in the back of the progressive Christine Cegelis (Obama backed Duckworth) way back in 2006:

Although Obama said such high-profile primary endorsements were rare, a similar controversy arose a few weeks later. Just as Ned Lamont’s antiwar primary campaign against prowar Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was gaining momentum, Obama traveled to the state to endorse Lieberman. Like the Duckworth endorsement, Obama’s move was timed to derail an insurgent, grassroots candidate. To progressives this may seem surprising, given Obama’s progressive image. But remember, according to the New York Times it is Lieberman–one of the most conservative, prowar Democrats in Washington–who is “Obama’s mentor in the Senate as part of a program in which freshman senators are paired with incumbents.”

Other sources, including the Hartford Courant, reported that Obama chose Lieberman as his mentor.

Given that Barack Obama has really fought against a public option almost from day one and instead has talked about "insurance reform", and given the fact that Obama chose the DLCer Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff (who was engaged in pressuring Harry Reid to drop the expansion of Medicare alla Lieberman), and given the fact that Lieberman was Obama’s mentor, what’s the surprise here?

Neither Lieberman nor Obama are progressives or working for true health care reform.