Obama Not Insisting on Public Option?

Yep, according to Politico. Obama, who's expected to give another speech on health care reform before Sept. 15, is likely to not insist on a public option (he has never insisted on a public option). That is going to cause the left to have a meltdown but a public option doesn't seem to be the will of the people and there aren't enough votes, without a few republicans being on board. It seems to me that it's better to get some kind of health reform done than none at all:

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David Axelrod, who sounds exhausted:

On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.

“We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition,” an aide said. “There are lots of different ways to get there.”

The timing, format, venue and content of Obama's presentation are still being debated in the West Wing. Aides have discussed whether to stick to broad principles, or to send specific legislative language to Capitol Hill. Some hybrid is likely, the officials said.

“I’m not going to put a date on any of this,” Axelrod said. “But I think it’s fairly obvious that we’re not in the second inning. We’re not in the fourth inning. We’re in the eighth or ninth inning here, and so there’s not a lot of time to waste.” Read more

But Obama still wants to provide a way for low income people to have affordable insurance. But it's not likely to be a public option:

"His goal is to create the best possible situation for consumers, create competition and choice," Axelrod said. "We want to bring a measure of security to people who have health insurance today. We want to help those who don't have coverage today, because they can't afford it, get insurance they can afford. And we want to do it in a way that reduces the overall cost of the system as a whole."