"These things always take time to heal," said Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst. "I think Clinton's supporters are waiting to see if Sen. Obama will pick her as vice president. That would certainly be very healing to them."

"If he doesn't pick her, a later stage of grief is depression and then acceptance," Schneider said. "In the end I expect Clinton supporters will accept Obama, because they will listen to Sen. Clinton, who has said the stakes are too high for Democrats to sulk."

Well, a universal health care plan that actually was, ya know, universal would go a long way toward "healing" this "sulky" and increasingly tepid Obama voter. As would unshitting the bed on FISA (though it would be harder to show that's not kabuki, absent some moves on the Senate floor that had actual results, like killing the thing and not kicking the can down the road 'til after the Convention). Yeah, FISA... That was depressing. So depressing some people actually moved back a stage, toward anger.

But why is Schneider running the tired old "stages of grief" gag, anyhow? What's he trying to reassure the Village about? Polling results like this:

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey completed in early June before the New York senator ended her White House bid, 60 percent of Clinton backers polled said they planned on voting for Obama. In the latest poll, that number has dropped to 54 percent.

Interesting data point.