Speaking of Triggers, I think it is time for Obama to pull it

I have tried to maintain an even keel in following and participating in the Health Care Debate. Never trying to get too excited or too disappointed. That has served me well as this has been a long drawn out debate. It has had it's ups back in June, it's downs in August, and a slow steady rise through September and October.

There has been a lot of pressure on behalf of progressive Health Care Reform. Many of my freinds on the left of me have been dis-spirited by the lack of Obama's taking the debate by the throat. I have continued to cut him some slack, preferring to look at the outcome as much as the process. As we get closer and closer to voting on the floors of Congress, reform is inching it's way along in an acceptable position.

A mere two weeks ago discussing this issue I shared my opinion with a number of fellow Obama volunteers that it was too early to be disappointed by his side line approach. After all it was his speech to Congress in September that put a floor under the falling polls and sparked the resurrection of the debate in a more progressive fashion.

I was pleased to hear that the pressure on Reid to include a Public Option in the Senate bill was successfull. Once it is in it will be almost impossible to strip it out. In the end what whatever finally comes out of the Senate will be the closest proximity to what the final bill will look like. I have always believed that Obama would wait till Democrats got the ball down to the Red Zone and then would join in the battle to help push the ball across the end zone. He has was successful in staying sufficiently above the fray to not allow himself to be overly identified with any specific piece of legislation. This would allow him to take possession of whatever the final product was and run it into the end zone.

That is why the reporting that at first the "White House" pushed back against Reid including the Opt-out Public Option instead of the Triggered Option is so very disappointing. TPM has a report discussing the relationship between Reid and the "White House" in getting the bill passed.

Now in my wildest dreams,
I suspected that Obama was allowing Reid to get to left of the White House as Reid was losing support from the Liberals and is going to need their help in his election next year. This would allow Obama then to stand in the middle and say this is the bill that Congress has come up with and now that we are here we need to get it passed.

You can imagine the disappointment when Chuck Todd of NBC reports a quote such as

White House Tells Reid 'Don't Come Crying to Us When You Need That Last Vote'

I'll continue to maintain my even keel going into the home stretch of this debate as it is far from over. Constantly reminding myself that the final product is much more important than the process. That being said President Obama could be find himself having to do some searious making up to all of us who jumped into the fray last fall.

Coming full circle Chuck Todd has issued statements walking back from the quote about don't come crying to me. It appears this was supposed to have been his own clarification and not a direct quote. That makes a large difference. This eipisode is just a reminder of the importance of taking this whole debate in stride.