Please forgive this poorly written diary. I am just an uneducated happy lurker who usually feels quite at home here, but I'm frustrated enough to risk ridicule to try to make a point. Don't know where else to say what's on my mind, too long for a comment I think...
I'm so baffled by everyone who keeps saying that Obama has changed his position on the public option! Three quick points to make, and then you can tell me how wrong I am.
I don't believe for a minute that Obama has changed his position on the public option, rather he is just trying to put it in the context of the whole reform, for the benefit of regular people who aren't following this so closely. Many people (including a caller on the radio interview today) are under the false impression that the public option is all there is. So when he explains lately that the public option is just a small piece of the whole thing, that reassures some on the right and freaks out the left. But he is not saying it's not important, just that it's not the whole thing.
Unless we want our president to walk around speaking from a script he carries with him, it's always going to be possible (and likely) for our lovely media newsmodels to point to the smallest change in the way an idea is presented, and then freak out and say "Obama walks back" or even "Obama flip flops". That is to Obama's credit, that he is willing to explain things more than one way, to reach more people. So why would anyone here keep taking the media bait, especially since we KNOW this about our mainstream media: they will always choose their own "story" rather than try to get to the truth of the matter.
Lastly, and I admit I don't know much about the process, but I would think that someone who is trying to lead complex negotiations with multiple parties, if required to explain every nuance, every point of contention, and what his party's positions are at all points in the process will either give away his negotiating power or occasionally look like his focus has changed. Why would we try to help the media boil this down to talking points to feed their simplistic memes, and sabotage these negotiations as a result?
We DO know where Obama stands, and for those who keep saying he's just trying to leave wiggle room, may I just say DUH, isn't it supposed to look like that, or no one would come to the negotiating table.