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Joe Lieberman is the most powerful senator in the United States.

By holding the magic, golden 60th vote for the Democrats in the U.S. Senate- and not being bound to them at the same time - he has managed to strong-arm the Senate into his version of health care reform, even at the expense of the will of the majority of Senators.

The New York Times reports:

And on Monday night, Democratic senators emerged from a tense 90-minute closed-door session and suggested that they were on the verge of bowing to Mr. Lieberman’s main demands: that they scrap a plan to let people buy into Medicare beginning at age 55, and scotch even a fallback version of a new government-run health insurance plan, or public option.

Mr. Lieberman said he believed that the Medicare expansion was off the table, though he did not get any guarantee. “Not an explicit assurance, no,” he said. “But put me down tonight as encouraged at the direction in which these discussions are going.”

Mr. Lieberman could not be happier. He is right where he wants to be — at the center of the political aisle, the center of the Democrats’ efforts to win 60 votes for their sweeping health care legislation. For the moment, he is at the center of everything — and he loves it.

“My wife said to me, ‘Why do you always end up being the point person here?’ ” he said, flashing a broad grin in an interview on Monday.

 Here's Chris Matthews analyses Lieberman's position:

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The Washington Post added:

Democratic negotiators had already disappointed liberal lawmakers by jettisoning a full-fledged public insurance plan a week earlier. Last night, party leaders conceded that a key portion of the compromise they crafted to replace the public option -- a proposal allowing people as young as 55 to buy into Medicare -- also did not have sufficient support from Democratic moderates to overcome a likely Republican filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), after consulting with senior White House officials, rallied his caucus in a closed-door meeting Monday evening, reminding senators that there was broad consensus behind most of the provisions in the $848 billion package and warning them of the consequences of not passing a bill before the end of the year.

"Democrats are not going to let the American people down," he told reporters after the meeting. "I am confident that by next week, we will be on our way to final passage."

The full contents of the legislation probably will not be known until Tuesday, at the earliest, when the Congressional Budget Office is expected to provide an official cost analysis.

Here's Lieberman explaining his position: