Reply #114: ? Seems as though you read only the first sentence of Reply 112 and none of Reply 109.

[No Elephants]

I believe Obama got exactly the bill he wanted after his meetings with health insurers, PHRMA and health care providers. Remember, the House did pass a public option. As the bill was getting mauled in Senate Finance, the House Progressive Caucus tried and tried to meet with Obama and could not get a meeting until after the Senate bill passed. He also refused to meet with pro single payer or public option doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who had walked across country. (However, after the bill passed, he met with some AMA types, asking them to wear their white coats.)

Meanwhile, Obama had been for months describing the public option as a sliver and relatively unimportant --and simultaneously praising Baucus to the skies--and Brown was elected.

Obama then asked for a number of amendments to the Senate bill, to be passed by reconciliation, given there were no longer 60 in the Democratic Caucus. None of the things he requested included a public option. (There really was no issue of usurping legislative function inasmuch as the House and the Senate were divided on the issue.) This happened in March.

I and others have posted on these things for a long time, with links, so forgive me if I don't feel like pulling all up all the links again.

I think these things, plus the things I wrote about in Reply 109--lawsuit over white house logs, etc., indicate fairly clearly that he got the health insurance deal he wanted, which was different from what he had campaigned on. If you don't agree, that's your prerogative, but I and many others think the evidence is as clear as reasonable people can expect, short of Obama saying so, which will never happen.

But, I'm puzzled because I'm fairly sure you know that. Was your questioin simply disingenuous? If so, pardon me for giving a serious response. I'm not always able to pick up on that kind of thing.