hidden inside it is the real story:

With no need to negotiate with Republicans, Democrats might be better able to move more quickly, relying on their large majorities in both houses.

Democratic senators might feel more empowered, for example, to define the authority of the nonprofit insurance cooperatives that are emerging as an alternative to a public insurance plan.

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. link

And all this time I thought it was the Republicans.

As long as the Progressive Caucus stands firm, the White House has only one direction to jump.

No public option indeed!  I'll buy the handcuffs!

Their positions and plans weren't far apart, and I knew I was going to disagree with a number of things that either of them would do. But I felt like Hillary was more of a known quantity, who would, in some cases, more strongly fight for Democratic values.

I say Obama needs the distraction of being mildly chastised in the media for "giving up" on the public option; it helps drown out the chatter from the left of the left about the huge bonanza coming the insurance companies' way.

I don't think he's finished in the back rooms yet, either.  

If they fully believed this we'd have Single Payer.  But if enough even partially believe it, we might still get something that doesn't totally suck.

As I've said previously, I don't buy the "Obama bungled health care" argument, because he didn't bungle his deals with big pharma, etc.. The argument Hampsher makes above, and others have made for months, makes more sense. It's the only argument which makes all the pieces fit.

Most of this battle was lost before it was even fought.

Why the health care debate is so important regardless of one's view of the "public option"

Obama is consigning himself to
one-term wonderdom.

"lt's beyond my control," he would say.

He was on the verge of becoming a laughing stock.  At which point, another friend of mine, a woman decided to speak to him seriously. She explained to him that his name was in danger of being ludicrously associated with this phrase for the rest of his life.

I feel somewhat compelled to keep posting this.  For those who want to know, it is from the Christopher Hampton script for Dangerous Liaisons.

In the book the more literal translation from French is: "It's out of my hands."

Of course you tend to get one of two responses from progressives: "Yeah it's important, but I trust congress to get this taken care of" (reading between the lines) or (this is the TalkLeft marginally Obama supporters) "I'm not doing anything, Obama must do this completely by himself."  

At the end, while the attitudes are completely different, it's the same result, fail.  

On top of that health care reform is generally a loser issue.  The only time it was really talked about it up to this was the Democratic primaries where they argued over trivial points that only a modest few cared about.  The Republican primaries and the general election heard nary a peep about health care reform.  

Make this video viral!!!