A saint?

I can honestly say that he's probably a much better person than I am: His tolerance for Joe Lieberman--who questioned his patriotism--is saintly (and also smart politics). -Joe Klein

Not saintly at all, but very smart politics indeed. The President's revenge will be slowly cruel to Joe: Obama will be become a historic figure. Joe Lieberman will leave politics in a few years with few friends and even fewer accomplishments. This is a man who came ridiculously close to vice-presidency in 2000. He crossed the floor to the Republican side this campaign cycle, hoping to be picked by his friend John McCain to be vice-president nominee but he failed again. After McCain's defeat, he had to swallow his pride and ask the Democratic caucus for forgiveness to retain at least some semblance of influence. Obama does not need to punish him, Lieberman punished himself by acting like a fool. The cost of retaining some token influence will be steep: supine obediency. It is much smarter to use him to vote for projects that will be hailed in history as the legacy of President Obama as well as being a much sweeter and long lasting revenge.