Passing The Buck On Passing The Public Option

Congressional Dems are feeling rather squirrely about actually passing this health care thing. They know they have to pass something, but they are desperately looking for cover on this anyway.

Senior White House officials are scheduled to be in the room throughout negotiations to merge competing Senate health care bills from the Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees, with the expectation that they will make key decisions to mediate disagreements. In advance of the floor action to follow, Obama and top administration officials have been lobbying Senate Democrats to secure support for a final package.

“The White House presence in the merger will be huge, and it has to be,” a senior Democratic Senate aide said Monday. “President Obama will have to weigh in on the most difficult issues.”…

Democratic sources say Obama is going to have to make the final call on the controversial issues, including whether to push for the public insurance option.

Really? After weeks of trying to stab the president in the back, and about a dozen Senators all pretending that they are the crucial vote on this, everyone's now jumping behind Obama's shadow?

That's actually progress as far as the White House is concerned. It also means that the Senate may be planning on passing a bill that nobody likes, and wants to pin as much of this on Obama as possible.