It is possible that we are witnessing uncoordinated Democratic leaders each pursuing their own exit strategy in anticipation of legislative failure:

    * The President proposes a "compromise" and blames Republicans for being unreasonable and unconstructive.  Legislative failure is the Republicans' fault, not the President's.

    * Speaker Pelosi continues to press for a two bill strategy in which the House and Senate will pass a new reconciliation bill.  If the Senate cannot or will not do so, legislative failure is the Senate's fault, not the House's or Speaker Pelosi's.

    * Supported by outside liberals, Leader Reid points out that the House could just take up and pass the Senate-passed bill.  Legislative failure is therefore not his fault or the Senate's.

Each of these strategies is consistent with telling your allies that you're continuing to push forward, right up until the moment you give up and blame someone else.  Of these hypothetical blame-shifting rationalizations, the President's would be the weakest.  It is common knowledge that Republicans have no procedural authority to block either Speaker Pelosi's two bill strategy, nor to prevent the House from taking up and passing the Senate-passed bill.

Gosh, how strange that after insisting for a year that Obama vigorously supports the public option, his first-ever plan excludes it.

This is what the Democratic Party does; it's who they are.  They're willing to feign support for anything their voters want just as long as there's no chance that they can pass it.  They won control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections by pretending they wanted to compel an end to the Iraq War and Bush surveillance and interrogation abuses because they knew they would not actually do so; and indeed, once they were given the majority, the Democratic-controlled Congress continued to fund the war without conditions, to legalize Bush's eavesdropping program, and to do nothing to stop Bush's habeas and interrogation abuses ("Gosh, what can we do?  We just don't have 60 votes).

The primary tactic in this game is Villain Rotation.  They always have a handful of Democratic Senators announce that they will be the ones to deviate this time from the ostensible party position and impede success, but the designated Villain constantly shifts, so the Party itself can claim it supports these measures while an always-changing handful of their members invariably prevent it.  One minute, it's Jay Rockefeller as the Prime Villain leading the way in protecting Bush surveillance programs and demanding telecom immunity; the next minute, it's Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer joining hands and "breaking with their party" to ensure Michael Mukasey's confirmation as Attorney General; then it's Big Bad Joe Lieberman single-handedly blocking Medicare expansion; then it's Blanche Lincoln and Jim Webb joining with Lindsey Graham to support the de-funding of civilian trials for Terrorists; and now that they can't blame Lieberman or Ben Nelson any longer on health care (since they don't need 60 votes), Jay Rockefeller voluntarily returns to the Villain Role, stepping up to put an end to the pretend-movement among Senate Democrats to enact the public option via reconciliation.

It's a feature, not a bug.

I don't know why anyone ever believed Obama wanted any kind of government option - not only did his actions never live up to his words (also a feature, apparently), but how could he have supported the creation of a new program, or the expansion of one he has shown way too much interest in cutting?  

The only thing I expect to have come out of the Summit is an announcement that in spite of the fact that Dems were willing to give the Republicans everything they wanted - and then some - the Republicans refused to go along.  "Boo-hoo...the mean Republicans knocked us to the ground, beat us up, and even though we gave them all our lunch money, they still don't like us!  Waaah!"

The American people, meanwhile, will still be asking why the people who represent them can't muster up the courage to ever give us what we want.

Effectively, zero history of any type of leadership or executive experience.  The proverbial empty suit.

There is a huge difference between college activism, community organizing and the big boy chair of governing.

Seriously, with this kind of savvy PR, you'd have a hard time selling, scratch that, giving away charcoal at a barbeque convention.  

More: "Top aides tell us there are not currently 50 votes for the plan in the Senate, or 218 in the House. Moderate and endangered lawmakers want the spotlight off comprehensive health reform. Instead, it's about to take center stage." link

It wasn't. It never existed. It's like the Hopeychangey Antiwar Brilliant Intellectual Obama, he never existed either, except in the fevered imaginations of his supporters. Anyone who fell for the "Public Option" hoax was just falling for the same con job, put out by the same people.