Glad I am not the only one concerned about the liberals readiness for the August fight. Occasionally misery loves company

Jonathan Chait:

What’s not clear is whether these organizations will send the right message. Right now, the energy on the left is all about securing support for a public insurance option. I’m a strong supporter of a public option, but, as I’ve written before, it’s not the sine que non of reform that many of my fellow liberals think it is. If the left makes August all about the public option, I fear they will lose the fight over everything else.

I don't pretend to be 100 percent certain about that judgment; I know a lot more about policy than strategy. (That's why I will spend most of my time for the next few weeks focusing on the former.) But I also know I'm not the only one on the left who worries about this--or who worries that, more generally, the left just isn't up for this fight, whether because they're ambivalent about the measures moving through Congress or just ambivalent period. As one liberal operative in Washington asked me recently, "Do they understand what is at stake? ... Do they get that recess isn't about improving the Senate Finance bill but about getting a bill at all?"

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/08/02/the-guns-of-august.aspx

Preview of coming attractions...

Birther socialist crowd at Sebelius/Specter Town Hall

Right Wingers Wreak Havoc on Philadelphia Town Meeting
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/denise-dennis/right-wingers-wreak-havoc_b_249897.html?view=print

Look, I don't know if the rest of you are as fed up as I am with the obstruction
and political game playing going on with this health care reform...but I DO know
this - the Republican obstructionists and the Blue Dog Dems have absolutely NO
clue what the rest of us are going through with healthcare. Maybe it's time
they did!

If you agree, please sign the petition below, and forward it - any way you can -
to anyone and everyone you know! Time to let them know how we feel!!!!

http://www.petitiononline.com/PubOp676/petition.html

Make no mistake in understanding this post. I want single payer insurance, public option, etc but at the ripe old age of 60 and having fought this fight for more years than I can remember, I urge caution.

A national exchange, allowing everyone to buy private insurance as part of a large risk pool with no pre-x, would result in reduced rates for most of us immediately. Couple that with subsidies for the low income and you have a good reform package. It would at least be a giant foot in the door for further legislation.

The government already has an exchange set up for federal employees and I don't see why they couldn't just lump us all into it. It's not perfect but it would require no set up funds and would be a quick fix for a lot of people. Co-op rates would not be lower than the exchange and other than reconciliation, I don't see a public option passing.