Is there anything the administration can't live with?

As the NYT reports this morning, two senior administration officials say the White House likes Olympia Snowe's "trigger" plan that will basically kill the public option, and ensure that we don't have real competition in health care in this country. Big surprise there. The White House isn't willing to fight for a better bill, isn't willing to fight for the President's own promises. Isn't willing to use the President's power - which he most certainly has - to cajole all 60 members of the Democratic caucus into voting the right way. So, President Obama caves, as he so often does when faced with the prospect of having to fight for his beliefs.

If President Obama isn't willing to fight for what he reportedly considers the most important piece of legislation of his entire presidency, then what will he fight for? It's never going to change, folks. This is what the next three years are going to be like - always settling for less, when he could have had more, in order to avoid a fight. Democrats need to start demanding that this White House give Democrats just as much say in legislation as it always seems to give Republicans.

And keep something in mind. The last few weeks we finally had momentum on our side. The "opt-out" proposal took everyone by surprise, and even critics of the public option said they were intrigued. But, rather than use that momentum to get the kind of bill the President promised us during the campaign - to get something better - President Obama settled for a Republican proposal that was being discussed weeks ago, long before we had the momentum on our side. The White House never intended to try to get a better bill, regardless of whether we provided them with the political landscape to do just that. The last month of hard work by health care advocates was meaningless.

At some point, perhaps someone can inform President Obama that he won the election.