Screams the headline on Huffington Post. It has become evident that the White House is not only not doing enough for a public option but actually not fighting against the proposals being pushed. It might be surprising to some but the writing was on the wall for a long time.

So Alan Grayson issued an apology on the floor of the House for his earlier comment on the GOP health care plan. Here it is:

Can anyone please tell me why this Democratic Congress and administration constantly cave to right-wing pressure? Today thousands on nut-jobs descended on Washington urged on by an alcoholic lunatic. Unfortunately instead of ignoring these lunatics and their leader this administration is actually appeasing them. This includes the entire goddamn administration, the WH, the Senate and the Congress.

It is becoming increasingly evident that right now due to a complete lack of leadership from the White House, the President is now negotiating from a point of weakness. Recently we heard that the President got in touch with the Progressive caucus and asked them how much are they willing to compromise on health care reform:

All in all it appears very much as if the President is feeling out how willing the House will be to support a bill that falls short of their earlier demands for a Medicare-like public option available to all consumers without any triggers.

Update [2009-9-5 16:24:26 by tarheel74]:

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I am sure by now most people have read this article on Politico. But just to outline the salient points:

On health care, Obama's willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party's liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.

"We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition," an aide said. "There are lots of different ways to get there."

This is in response to the many people I read over the last few days who are willing to forgo a public option for either a co-op or for a health care system modeled around then one in Massachusetts.  

Robert Reich and Paul Krugman both have excellent columns out today in response to the events this weekend. While Reich has been more tempered in his assessment, Paul Krugman's blog post is nothing short of an indictment of the way the entire health care debate has been mismanaged by the White House.

I just finished watching Obama's townhall in Montana. It was informative in what was said explicitly and what was implied. Again this is my personal opinion and I am sure many people will dissect it over the period of a the next few days.

Once again I was and never am big on bipartisanship and high Broderism. Bipartisanship works when you have honest partners, not some manipulative lunatics who see the defeat of a marquee and much needed legislation as a way back to power. Pursuit of bipartisanship today is self-defeating and to quote Howard Dean "The earlier the White House realizes it's negotiating against itself, the quicker it can produce a bill that better satisfies the people who actually got the president elected."
But on to Krugman: