Reply #353: No, Presidents originate bills, too. They don't formally introduce them in Congress, but they do

[No Elephants]

get someone else to do so. And, yes, the POTUS and head of the Democratic Partty exerts a lot of control over Democrats in Congress. Not 1005 control over every Rep and Senator, but a lot. Look how fast he got Congress to vote down re-importation of drugs from Canada, for example. This idea the Obama just washed his Democratic Congress and can't do a thing with it is the bullshit, not the anger of peope who feel betrayed.

Obama never introduced a bill with a public option and never fought for it. Oh, sure, there was lip serice to public option while also calling it an unimportant sliver, but he never fought for it. It is obvious to most people that the deals were made with Big Health Insurance and others in Big Health in the early months after the Inauguration. And they manifested. And Obama just could not praise Baucus enough for passing a health insurance industry written bill.

The one thing I agree with you on is that "bipartisanship" is a red herring. It has nothing to do with anything. It is a distraction.