Hilariously enough, there are some very interesting diaries from members of this community who seem to have thought Obama strongly supported the public option. I suppose there will be some kind of rationalization forthcoming but it is very interesting to me.
For months lots of people here tried to convince us that Obama loved the public option forever and ever and talked about it all the time and would never drop it.
Now people, many of the same people it turns out, are saying that he in fact never campaigned on the public option. Never mentioned it. Ever.
First up, we have a diary which makes an excellent case for Obama's support of the public option.
Newsflash! Obama has ALWAYS supported the public option. Period. (Updated)
It was a recommended diary with 510 comments. Some of the same commenters and recommenders appear on that diary and the ones today arguing two completely opposite things. In fact, the writer of the diary recommended today's "Obama never campaigned on the public option" diary.
Fun times.
Another diary recalls a netroots interview with Valerie Jarrett and it says:
First, Valerie Jarrett notes there has been "no hint of a compromise with the public option" in the WH. She notes specifically to not be "alarmed" because he had not mentioned it in a speech from his national press conference from two weeks ago.
So Obama made sure to say there was no compromising away the public option and Jarrett went so far as to say that Obama didn't mention it in his press conference but please don't worry. This sounds like an important part of the health care legislation to me. Doesn't it?
Also, Obama, who "never campaigned on the public option" drew a line in the sand on the public option in one of his addresses according to Dailykos posters.
379 comments. Seems like a lot of people liked that one as well and agreed.
Obama also brought this unimportant part of the health care bill that he never campaigned on into the "lion's den: the AMA." So he'd risk pissing off an important group because of something he never campaigned on and something that's not too important? Really? Seems like a big risk.
I didn't even do an extensive search or anything. But reading those diaries and the comments therein was very enlightening to me. Lots and lots of people here thought he never wavered in his support of the public option since the campaign started.
It's really fun to watch everyone backtrack now.