11/23/09: TWD's Agenda Of The Day- Is It Still Worth It?

Josh Marshall presents a point of justified lament about how watered down the current public options have been:

Now, there are many people who look at this and say that the bill(s) under discussion are so anemic that they're maybe not worth fighting for at all. And that's certainly a legitimate opinion. But I think there's another question. Considering how down to the wire this is, is it really worth holding up everything else contained in the bill when the point of contention, the public option, is as measly as it is?

It really is concerning, with how the non-negotiated rates for a public option in the House was effectively lost from the get go, how the quality of reform in this bill isn't strong as it should be.

It's hard to continue getting excited over the public option when its effectiveness is being abated it seems with every passing second. From those non-negotiated rates to the start of (at least) opt-out public option ( 2013 at the earliest?), you can feel the "what's the point" mentality from some on it. Add the fact that lack of clarity with who is even eligible for it, and there are fundamentally a lot of problems with the most essential element in the eyes of many for reform.

Still, there will be affordable health insurance for some who have never had such a thing in this country if current bills are passed. Something has to pass with that at least in there.

The pressure needs to remain mounting on LIE-berman and those other three who just want to be like him (Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, and Blanche Lincoln).

And the pressure of reconciliation will grow on Harry Reid here again if those four corrupt idiots keep on with their "no on any public option" rhetoric.

The process has come too far to let the status quo win everything. They have already gained a hell of a lot so far.