Reply #206: he will not drop the public option

[kenny blankenship]

even if he signs a bill without it, he will have not dropped the public option. It just won't be there is all. He will no doubt continue to believe that a public option is --and I quote!-- "the best way" to contain costs and cover everyone. Or it would have been, you know, had it been kept in the bill. Just like he will continue to believe that Single Payer would be the best way if one were designing a health care system from scratch. His support for what's best is unwavering. It remains tragically locked in the realm of the Ideal. He really really believes these things and you gotta believe him!

All you have to do is listen to folks around here to know that Barack Obama supports the public option, forever and always, even if he ends up signing something different, like a "triggered" public option that won't be triggered until certain conditions are met and Republicans all agree with Democrats that these conditions exist. Or if he ends up signing no public option at all. He always thought it was a great idea and always will. Too bad you failed him by not fighting for it hard enough...

No, the more likely problem Democrats will confront is what to think if a bill with no working public option gets passed, and everyone including Obama claims to have an alibi. Because you can be sure, if the Public Option is found floating in the Potomac, none of the Democratic leadership will be stepping forward to take credit for pushing it off the bridge. The question will be: who among all the suspects emphatically swearing they did not drop the public option, cross their heart and hope to die! will be held accountable for in fact dropping the public option. And as regards Obama, the question will be, if he is willing to sign a bill without a working public option, whether it's absent completely, or it's fictitiously present in the form of a trigger, or an intentionally butchered mess, do we then consider that "dropping the public option" and how harshly do we judge him for it?