The editors of the Wall Street Journal say that the public option in health care reform has been “sent to the death panel.” Obama “concedes” the public option, reports the Financial Times. Even liberals seem to agree. The public option is “all but gone,” writes Bob Herbert of the New York Times. The American Prospect’s Mark Schmitt mourns its “likely death.”
Nonsense. There is no reason to exaggerate the strength of the small tong of conservative Democrats and claque of obstructionist Republicans standing in the way of reform. Here’s the reality:
