From practically the beginning of the health care reform fight, there have been diaries and comments with people wondering what the White House's position is on the public option.
I'm not sure the WH could have telegraphed this better or been any clearer without undermining their approach to Congress, but unsurprisingly, folks keep missing the forest through the trees, or maybe they weren't paying close attention in the first place.
The White House's position on the public option:
The White House wants the public option.
OK?
Now, there are going to be people who will say, well, he hasn't drawn a line in the sand, or, what about the WH saying that they're open to co-ops or any other ideas.
My response:
You don't draw a line in the sand at the beginning or the middle. You build towards it. It's the final card you play.
The WH has always said Obama would be open to co-ops if they satisfy his goals, but so far they don't -- only the public option does.
The Obama WH always says that they're open to any good ideas. ALWAYS. Obama gets to look reasonable. If there are other ideas that are genuinely good ones, then, he'll gladly accept them. It doesn't automatically mean that the WH is going to change their position.
So to reiterate:
The WH wants the public option. The WH is fighting for the public option. The problem is Congress (and the health insurance industry.
(This has been the situation from the beginning as I noted in March.)
Questioning the WH's commitment to real health care reform is a waste of time. Obama himself has been pushing the hardest from the beginning, ever since insisting on hundreds of millions of dollars being budgeted into his first budget. He reportedly insisted on this over the objections of just about every one of his advisers.
I hope this is clear. Now maybe we can move on, and concentrate on Congress. If we don't get the public option, it's not going to be because the WH didn't fight for it. It's going to be because there wasn't enough pressure on Congress to ok it.
ETA: I wrote a diary a few days addressing other myths and concerns re: the health care reform fight.