You know a ton of people were going on and on at Netroots Nation about how glad they were about Valerie Jarret's support of the public option. At the same time Kathleen Sebelius was out there doing the opposite. I overheard Cenk Uygur from the Young Turks telling Charles Chamberlain, the Political Director from DFA something that I think is true and key.
"You've gotten Sen Nelson's attention, but you don't have Obama's."
That's the truth. And while there are many diaries with fantastic information demanding you call the White House and support the public option, I say do something a little different.
Call every last one of the Senator's in your area, that you could honestly volunteer for. Call House folks close to you. And tell them the truth: If you can't deliver the public option for me, I won't work for you in 2010. I won't work for the party either. It's your call. Lose your base or get us the option. Make that call to the DNC while you're at it.
But when you call the DNC tell them: "the public option is essential" and that you will not work for any Democratic candidates who don't support and vote FOR the option.
Perhaps, the real next step is this: Call the White House. And say: if you cannot give us the public option, I cannot vote for you in 2012 and will vote for someone who will deliver me one. Someone like Howard Dean. Even if he's not on the ballot I'll write him in. The truth is, we progressives seem to have lost this fight right now. We need to get Obama's feet into the fire, otherwise he's not gonna budge. We always talk about holding leaders accountable. We primaried Lieberman. Let's do the same with Obama. Let's not fail to hold even the biggest of Dems to the standard which we'd hold all of them.