A good question

Recent polls say up to 70% of Americans would prefer to have the choice of a public policy plan to compete with private insurance.

Add to that this from former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on HuffingtonPost:

I really don't get it. We have a Democratic president in the White House. Democrats control sixty votes in the Senate, enough to overcome a filibuster. It is possible to pass health care legislation through the Senate with 51 votes (that's what George W. Bush did with his tax cut plan). Democrats control the House. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is a tough lady. She has said there will be no health care reform bill without a public option.

So why does the fate of health care rest in Grassley's hands?

It's not even as if the gang [so-called Gang of Six who are trying to forge a bipartisan bill in the Senate Finance Committee] represents America. The three Dems on the gang are from Montana, New Mexico, and North Dakota -- states that together account for just over 1 percent of Americans. The three Republicans are from Maine, Wyoming, and Iowa, which together account for 1.6 percent of the American population.

So, I repeat: Why has it come down to these six? Who anointed them? Apparently, the White House. At least that's what I'm repeatedly being told by sources both on the Hill and in the administration. "The Finance Committee is where the action is. They'll tee-up the final bill," says someone who should know.

That is a very good question. Obama's handling (I'm close to saying mishandling) of health care reform has done more to shake my faith in him than anything else. I just don't see any reason for it other than (1) a foolish over-commitment to bipartisanship way beyond any reason to expect the Republicans will let it happen or (2) he and his top advisers have been bought out by the health care corporations? Apparently Tom Daschle has been, but they ditched him at the last moment, but maybe only because they had to and not out of principle. I don't want to believe it's #2, but someone please prove me wrong.

I truly believe that we could have a public plan written into law, if Obama would really make the case for it and push it. Why not, especially given that it's supposedly what he wants.

Ralph