Despite the trial balloon floated by Obama [6] and Sebelius [7] over the past few days, leading people to think that they’re really not that set on the "public" option (ie. government run healthcare) that has many people so upset, conservatives could do well not to lay down their arms, so to speak.
So what's going on? It could mean several things. It could be an attempt to allay the fears of some conservatives (or just folks in the middle) while town-halls are still going on...perhaps give Democrats some breathing room and reduce the incoming fire. Maybe an attempt to gin up the liberal side of the debate by scaring them into seeing their dream of government run healthcare not coming to fruition...causing them to get more energized to counter conservatives. Most likely all of the above.
But what we can rest fairly assuredly that it does NOT mean is that Obama and Company have given up on their objective of government run healthcare and eventually a single-payer system.
What we do know is what's happened since those comments were made. Liberals (especially those in the House as well as outside groups) have gone berzerk. They're threatening the White House by saying "no public option" means no bill. We do know that there's no change to the pending legislation. And we know Pelosi has indicated there will be votes on at least three bills in September, and they all have some sort of "public option".
And we know that the White House has begun to back-track [8].
All of which should tell conservatives to keep up the protests. Keep showing up at the town-hall meetings. Keep calling your members of Congress and letting them know how you feel in no uncertain terms. Keep letting them know how you'll be spending your spare time during their re-election campaigns next year.
In other words, don't believe the hype. And keep up the work.
