Paring down the public option
President Obama has welcomed a compromise on health care that is widely being interpreted as scrapping the public option, which has been a touchstone for many liberals.
He said:
"The Senate made critical progress last night with a creative framework that I believe will pave the way for final passage and a historic achievement on behalf of the American people. I support this effort, especially since it is aimed at increasing choice and lowering costs."
After committing more troops to Afghanistan, how is that going to go down with his core supporters?
It seems instead of a government-run insurance scheme providing an alternative to the big insurance firms there would be several privately-run, but not-for-profit schemes under the authority of a federal agency that currently looks after politicians' health care.
Doubtless many lawmakers will be as baffled as I am as to what difference this makes. But the words "public option" will probably disappear.
The president's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, has been trying to fend off those asking how come the president was in favour of a public option and now backs a compromise that seems to do away with it.
He says it's like asking if the president would like to win the lottery, and claims the press is in danger of focussing on the twigs in the forest, not even the trees. The forest being the prize of the bill itself, you see. I leave you to work out twigs, trees, root and branch.
We are still a fair way away from a final bill so it is not the end of the road. But keeping a handful of right-wing Democrats happy will annoy a lot of the people who voted for the president.
I’m Mark Mardell, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
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