Public Option Faces Death Panel

The public option now faces the death panel, and they vote to pull the plug on the public option.

The AP reported a headline today: The Public Option is Dead.

The LA Times says:

"House approval of legislation Saturday — even if Democrats can move it no further — was an accomplishment that has eluded presidents for decades. But the close vote and the exertions it took to secure a majority were laden with warning signs as the issue moves to the Senate.

Even though the House is a bastion of liberalism, the healthcare overhaul was a tougher sell than expected and the bill turned out to be more conservative in its price tag, more limited in the scope of its government-run insurance option and tighter in its restrictions on abortion funding than many Democrats had hoped.

Moreover, the narrow victory — 220 to 215 in a chamber where Democrats hold 258 seats — was unsettling for liberals because moderate Democrats have a louder voice in the Senate and Republicans have more stalling power.

What is more, the political climate has become more challenging for progressivism than it was when Obama’s agenda for change was launched in his 2008 presidential campaign and ratified with his resounding election one year ago."

What has changed thus far? A 10.2% unemployment have shoved a wedge in the revolving door of big spending programs under Obama like the stimulus. Obamacare will be no different. The recent election have shown a shift in power from blue to red in key states. And lest we forget the bill narrowly passed the house, in a raging liberal congress. In a far more moderate to conservative senate, well things don't look good.

But Sen. Joe Lieberman wasted no time in saying he can’t support the public insurance plan in the House bill.

If a government plan is part of the deal, “as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters.

“The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said.

Democrats did not line up to challenge him. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has yet to schedule floor debate and hinted last week that senators may not be able to finish health care this year.

The senate will mostly likely pass a moderate bill without a public option, like the Baucus bill, and the stupak amendment is repealed, it will get filibustered by Lieberman and a hand full of other red state democrats, and of course GOPers.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid has said that we will most likely not get health care done this year, in which case it will go into 2010, a big election year for blue dogs, and conservative democrats who will need center votes.

Either way, this spells disaster for the public option.