Rahmbo's Public Option Fold...Unfolded?

Apparently White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's remarks on the trigger option for public health care in yesterday's WSJ didn't go over well with Democrats, to the point where today we see he's saying "Hah! I was just kidding!"

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel reassured House Democrats on Tuesday night that President Barack Obama strongly backs a government-run health insurance plan, seeking to quell a firestorm among liberals upset at Emanuel’s comments in the Wall Street Journal that suggested such a plan could be delayed.

Progressive Caucus Co-Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) warned Emanuel that he would lose the caucus’ votes if the White House compromised on the issue and included a “trigger” that could delay a public insurance plan indefinitely. The trigger idea is backed by conservative Democrats but is anathema to liberals.

“We have compromised enough, and we are not going to compromise on any kind of trigger game,” Woolsey said she told Emanuel. “People clapped all over the place. We mean it, and not just progressives.”

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said he was reassured by Emanuel. “He doesn’t stand by that trigger,” Waxman said. “He said the president and his administration and he are for a public plan as one of the options.”

BooMan comes to the conclusion that Rahmbo was launching a trial balloon that met a nasty and untimely end. I'm not 100% convinced, but it's clear given the less-than-24-hour about face that President Obama is 100% sure on the public option and told Rahmbo as such.

Still, I'm going to argue that the damage is done by bringing up the trigger option. It wasn't on the table before and while progressives are ignoring it, I'm betting it's the out that the ConservaDems are looking for so they can fold. On top of that, I think the debate is going to quickly shift in the next couple of days to the question of "Should the public option pay for abortions?" This will provide even more political cover to the ConservaDems for saying no.

I still don't see Obamacare passing.

[UPDATE 11:25 AM] And the main reason I don't see it passing is that asshole ConservaDems like Evan F'ckin Bayh have realized that if they don't filibuster bills, they might actually pass or something, and we can't have that.