Read David Waldman's excellent analysis, which concludes:
We are a long, long way from finished with this bill, of course. And there are some powerful and monied interests who we'd consider to wear white hats in this fight who still have chits they can call in which should not be discounted. Conference miracles do happen. But the basic rule is and always has been that the obstacles faced by those who want to change legislation grow exponentially as the process moves forward. That rule has application for those now clinging to "fix it in conference" strategies, those whose champions (it is now revealed in hindsight) played things too clever by half on single payer, and probably for those relying on the "they'll never dare" strategies floating around the opt-out, too.Read the whole thing. It's truly instructive.
To this point, it's been the public option -- championed by those yahoo, know-nothing, pajama-wearing Cheeto munchers -- that, weakened though it may be, has ridden the most traditional, predictable and effective path to inclusion in the final bill: get your ducks in a row early, and fight hard every step of the way to keep them there, no matter how appealing each successive excuse for stepping out of line may seem at the time.
