Yeah, Joe, I wasn't sure if his leaving the scene was a positive or negative.    But you can bet that, had he stayed in, he would have been criticizing Obama as harshly as possible in a desperate attempt to get back in the good graces of the Right--including the Tea Party

His supporters will have to go somewhere, and I'd think that Pawlenty or maybe Huntsman would be the beneficiary.    Maybe Romney.

The GOP circular firing squad certainly is a thing of wonder.




Now we can hope that Nader's appeals for a candidate to the left of Obamas continue to fall on deaf ears.    And that Trumka's threats are empty rhetoric.

Another irony:    Trumka's warnings not to take unions for granted, but at the same time one of the main themes of the Right is that Obama is in the pocket of the unions (e.g. the Boeing issue).