Adam Green: "Obama is telling America, 'No, we can’t on the public option."

By The Left Coaster's Turkana TLC

Greg Sargent received a pointed email from Adam Green, of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee:

Obama is telling America, “No, we can’t.” But we’ve been showing more and more each day, “Yes, we can” pass the public option. If President Obama doesn’t think the votes exist in the Senate, he needs to name which senators would oppose it. If he can’t or won’t, there’s no reason for House progressives to be part of the White House’s loser mentality.
For months, the president's most ardent supporters explained his lack of effort on the public option by saying he really was for it. He gave lip service to it. We didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. And anyway, the president doesn't have a vote in Congress. The president can't make Congress do what he wants. The president doesn't have the votes in Congress. The president is respecting the balance of powers by letting Congress do its thing. The president doesn't create legislation. It would seem that the president disagrees.

The president doesn't have a vote in Congress, but he's now sure making the effort to lobby Congress.

The president sure seems to think he can lobby Congress.

The president sure seems to think he can create the votes in Congress.

The president sure seems to think respecting the balance of powers doesn't preclude his making the effort to get it to do his thing.

The president sure seems to think he can propose his own legislation.

The bottom line is that all the previous excuses now fall away. The president is leading. The president is doing whatever it takes to get his way. Despite fierce opposition. Despite the outcome being unknown. Despite not having the votes he needs. The president is trying to create the votes. The president is making the effort. It's just that he didn't care to make such effort for a public option.

The president's new effort, including finally offering his own explicit plan, came after the Senate letter. It came after the momentum began building, in support of the Senate letter. The president's effort came when the public option was being revived. The president's effort is to pass a bill without a public option. Decide for yourself.