Knowing when to stand your ground vs. compromise is the key to getting a lot of stuff done in politics. And in the past 72 hours, I've wavered between "progressives need to flex their muscle and show that we can compromise, but we won't be compromised," as Keith Olbermann put it, and "we really need to cash in our chips while we can."
The fact is, passing this bill is money in the bank. It's political mojo for the Democratic party. It provides a massive amount of subsidies for the poor, the working poor, and the middle-class to help them afford coverage.
It absolutely does not preclude Congress or the Democratic Party taking up the public option issue in the future. So while I think it's great that progressives are flexing their muscle right now and saying, "enough is enough," we need to remember to keep this fight a family fight, and stick together when it's over. And we shouldn't be letting Rupert Murdoch-owned blogs fuel the fire that temporarily divides us.
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