The Republican obstructionism on the health care reform agenda is not "principled objections" as Senate minority leader Eric Cantor suggests. It is non-principled, pure nihilistic policy of poisoning the well and deception on behalf of conservatives.
The liberal majority that elected Democrats to office in 2008 has spoken.
The Public Option must survive in a final health care bill, and the process of reconciliation between House and Senate bills is the only avenue by which Democratic representatives can claim to have made any "meaningful reform" come reelection time.
Make it clear that this will not go away, and we the liberal progressives will not be silent.
This push did not come from the White House, or the Progressive Caucus, or from the desk of Sen. Harry Reid. This push for a strong public option through reconciliation came from the people who understand that health care is a moral issue, not merely a budgetary issue.
Both President Obama and Senator Reid remain open to the pursuit of Senate reconciliation, but I believe it important to state that this in itself is the "failure to sell health care reform to the American people" I spoke of before.
Instead, we will have to make perfectly clear that the public option must go forward and does not continue to be the "public optional."
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Friday afternoon that he would work with other Democrats and the White House to pass a public option through reconciliation if that's the legislative path the party chooses.
The party has spoken. The ball is their court now in congress, but we must not allow this to fade into the night.
Just as Paul Krugman recently closed an op-ed with, "Health Care Reform Now!" I would say the as he except in different words given the changing of the situation but holding the same meaning:
Senate Reconciliation Now!
