I knew this would anger my fellow liberals on this website , but right now , i strongly believe all democrats should think very hard whether or not the public option is worth the chance of failing to get health care reform pass congress this year...Knowing very well that if everything falters , there won't be a chance to get it done for a very long time.
People who believe the public option can pass the senate do so by believing that the few centrists who object to it could be bullied into submission.
The problem is , Obama 's number is falling..currently at 48% according to Gallup...
Also , NJ/VA governor races ended up badly for Obama and weakened him leverage since he campaigned in both states.
This make it very hard to force those centrist to vote for the public option bill.
Now , i'm of the believe that democrats can not afford to not get a bill pass and if the road-block is the public option , they have got to be willing to dish it out to keep the entire house from burning.
Fact is , Obama never promised anyone a public option during the campiagn...Neither did Hillary or Edwards.
Bill Clinton did not have a public option in his healthcare format.
Obviously , the public option was not crucial for them back then , so why should democrats take a massive gamble that could really sink the whole ship.
The American people wants Obama to concentrate on the economy and jobs and they are getting sick and tired of the healthcare debate.
Obama would want this issue out of the way too and would not want to spend many more month discussing it.
We need a debate on free trade..currency rules and whether the U.S should change its free trade policy because of China cheating...But such a debate can not start untill the healthcare debate is wrapped up