The president continues to operate under the belief that liberals will warm to the bill when presented with a goodybag that includes includes an individual mandate, community rating, guaranteed issue, and a minimum required package. There's no chance, really, that a bill WON'T feature these reforms. Quietly, to secure and keep Democrats on board, the White House is going to bargain, providing inducements, like more money for favored projects, etc., in order to secure individual votes.

Liberals are supposed to warm to a "goodybag" with individual mandates and a giveaway to insurance companies?! Sounds like O is setting up backroom deals to buy votes? Mr Transparency . . .

In our culture, visuals are everything. A guy like Gibbs is poison; glib, smarmy, an easy target. He irritates all sides, and doesn't add anything that shows confidence..

WellPoint's stock price surged as the prospects for a new "public" health insurance plan appear to be fading.

Shares of the Indianapolis-based health insurance giant rose Monday -- a down day for the broader market -- in reaction to recent comments from the Obama administration that a public plan is not essential to health-care reform.

WellPoint shares shot up 3 percent to close at $53.70 on Monday, even as the S&P 500 index fell 2.4 percent. Other insurers, such as UnitedHealth Group and Aetna, also saw their share prices rise.
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Obviously, Rahm's position is the only logical one if they want to pass a bill. But if they don't want to get behind that yet, they should just be offering bland, non-headline inducing statements.

Saying stuff like this is idiotic:

[The President] would get in a rocket and fly to the moon if that's what it would take to get everyone together.

What I discovered when I worked in the White House was that there were plenty of people who work in that building whose primary loyalty is not to the President but to themselves.

Gov't mandate - not going to happen

Relaxing regulations and expanding choice - not on the agenda.

Since Obama has dropped the first way he should take a page out of the Ron Paul book and get government out of it's cozy relationship with the big insureres and allow smaller insurers, co-ops and anyone with money a fair shot at our health care dollars.

This would mean blowing up the state regulations that allow someone to pay $5K for a plan that would cost $1K in another sate etc..., man

The cozy relationship works both ways.   While it is stifling any real chance of a public plan it is at the same time stifling the competitive marketplace from containing costs.