At the 5:00 minute mark.

To my progressive friends: STFU! No soup for you!
To my Republican friends: What can I give you?

Am I being a little dramatic? Probably, but I'm getting real tired of the "let's work together" shtick. The Republicans have shown that they are not honest partners and that they have no interest in being such. Quit giving them a place at the table when they have consistently proven that their goal is to set the table on fire. Case in point:


The bottom line is that, once again, this is either brilliant Obama-fu or a capitulation to the shrill minority and the moneyed interests. The brilliant Obama-fu would be that now, the public option, as Obama has said he wants it, becomes almost the default policy. The co-op and the trigger now need to prove they are better options.

Still, I feel like progressives get the short stick again. But maybe that's our role in this administration. We are the midfield playmaker. We make the last pass in the face of a brutal tackle. Yeah, we get the cleats to the ankle, which hurts hella lot, but we make the play that results in the winning goal. I still have faith that Obama is giving us a wink as he throws us under the bus and that the wink means it will be worth it and we will get what we want. Ever the optimist.

Update: Here we go. Maxine Waters floats the bubble - anyone got any better ideas than the Public Option? Damn, I'm good. Now there will be discussion of the co-op and trigger options and it's up to us to eviscerate them as the bad ideas they are. Wonder Blogger Powers, activate: form of a reasoned rebuttal!

Game On!

Obama at Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Day BBQ, "And I continue to believe that a public option within the basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs."
While I'm not as reassured as this, I am much more hopeful than I was a week ago that the Health Insurance Public Option will not be abandoned and that President Obama will fight for it and is actually already pretty confident that it's in the bag, which is especially heartening since it looks like a significant percentage of the public is in favor of it, see here and here.

Of course, what that really means is keep it up, contact your Rep., your Senators and the White House and demand that we get substantial Health Care Reform this year and that it must include a public option. Do it tomorrow, cause this debate is essentially over on Wednesday when Obama gives his Health Care speech.

BTW, full video of the speech can be found here and the Fired Up! story begins around 30:40. I never get tired of hearing it.