No Public Option: No Bill

The prospects for a strong public option being included in a final bill have been looking weaker lately, especially as the White House is backing off the necessity of a public option. If it is the case that President Obama is giving up on Candidate Obama's pledge to work for a public health care option, then the onus is upon progressive congresspeople to refuse to vote for any "compromise" which does not include a public option.

And as for Obama, he should respect his words of barely a month ago when he said any attempt at reform must include a public option. To my mind, that means that he vetoes any legislation on this topic that crosses his desk that does not at least reach that mark of good policy. Incremental and half-assed change is not the sort of change I can believe in and it's not what I voted for last November. If the Democrats with huge majorities in the House and Senate cannot accomplish even this, then there may be little to recommend them over a third-party protest vote.

Finally, readers, I know that a lot of the content of this blog has been about health care recently and you may be getting tired of the same topic all the time. I apologize if it's been getting boring, but bear with me as there may still be a little more news about this in the future.