With one sentence from today's speech:
And I continue to believe that a public option within the basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs.
No waffling, no 'slivers,' no qualifications. No more trial balloons. As strong and direct a statement as, heh, Obama is capable of making.
He will NOT allow Rahm and Axelrod to compromise away the Public Option. The battle of The White House, compromise vs standing firm on the PO, has been won.
Principle over "Pragmatism." Real reality in giving the Voters what they overwhelmingly want as opposed to the faux reality of the Teabaggers and Town-hallers...and the Republicans who tried to use them to get Obama to abandon the Public Option. Standing firm when a seemingly huge contingent of Baucus's and Grassley's and Nelson's....and Rahm's.... were pushing another Democratic Cave.
The Progressive Caucus stood firm in the face of in favor of yet another case of Democrats attempting to cave in to themselves.....and they won.
The forces that urged him to compromise in the face of no real opposition have lost.
The Progressive Caucus, The DFH Bloggers and....The American People have won.
He IS standing with the Progressive Caucus in demanding the Public Option.
He IS standing with the bloggers in demanding the Public Option.
He IS standing with The American People, over the Insurance Companies and lobbyists.
And he is doing so with fire in his eye....at last. Today's speech was a FIGHTING speech, as we have urged.
Let's support him and bury him in carrots in hope that that fire will carry over to Wednesday night.
And let us all rise and sing songs of praise to (and fill the coffers of!)or Magnificent Progressive Caucus! If they had not stood firm, we would NOT have won the Battle of the White House!
UPDATE:
Do NOT stop fighting. Do NOT stop applying pressure. Do NOT stop calling and writing your Reps and Sens AND the White House.
The Battle for the White house may have been won....but the battle for REAL HCR has not, and we can not stop fighting!
Clarification of my feelings in the diary:
Only a Republican would say this on Monday...
And I continue to believe that a public option within the basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs.
And abandon the PO on Wednesday.
In the new 'science' of Barackology, I am pretty confident my thesis will stand up!