Joe Lieberman was negotiating with zero leverage. Losing his chairmanship may have been "unacceptable" but what was his threat? To join up with the Republicans? They don't have any chairmanships to give him. Joining the R's would have further alienated an already irate constituency back home in Connecticut. It would have all but guaranteed a loss in four years. It also would have compelled him to vote against his own views 90% of the time. Given all that, why didn't Harry Reid take care of business?
It's simple: he's not much of a leader. Strong leaders make hard decisions and stand by them. Strong leaders don't pass difficult decisions on for a vote by committee. We need a new generation of strong leadership in the senate to go along with our new generation of strong leadership in the white house.
A true leader would have negotiating from a position of strength and would have dealt with this issue promptly and decisively and not let it turn into cable news fodder for three straight days. Senator Reid just demonstrated why he has not yet crossed the Senate Majority Leader threshold.