APT and Versioned Obsoletes

I'm running apt-0.5.15cnc6 and have notice a strange behavior with using 
Obsoletes.  It appears that APT does not support versioned Obsoletes:

Obsoletes: python = 2.2.2

I have this tag in a package named python22.  Then, I have another 
package named python that:

Provides: python = 2.3.4

This order works:

1. apt-get install python22
2. apt-get install python

This order does not:

1. apt-get install python
2. apt-get install python22		# silently removes python

If you did the first order and then:

$ apt-get install --reinstall python22

It will also silently remove python.  So, I tend to think that Apt's 
Obsoletes check is not versioned, but only looks at the package.  Is it 
possible to rectify this?

take care,
-- 
-jeff