I personally see no evidence Obama is running Joe, I think Joe's staff is, and one might argue they are often from the Obama school. Anyway, it's Joe who is running, not Obama, and even if Obama called in every morning and said "Do this, do that", it wouldn't help Joe in the campaign. It might help slightly IF they made it public, but I suspect that would hurt Joe also with some.
If Obama himself could run now, I think he'd win handily. And whether one considers Obama to be a "centrist" depends of course on the political leanings of the person making the call.
I have read those on the Left claiming MSNBC leans right, and folks on the Right claiming Fox News sold out and leans left.