Obama Really Doesn't Want 'Public Option'

Talking Points Memo is saying that the White House is pushing for the most watered-down form of the health care 'public option':

Multiple sources tell TPMDC that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is very
close to rounding up 60 members in support of a public option with an opt out
clause, and are continuing to push skeptical members. But they also say that the
White House is pushing back against the idea, in a bid to retain the support of
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

"They're skeptical of opt out and are generally deferential to
the Snowe strategy that involves the trigger," said one source close to
negotiations between the Senate and the White House. "they're certainly not
calming moderates' concerns on opt out."

This new development, which casts the White House as an opponent of all but
the most watered down form of public option, is likely to yield backlash from
progressives, especially those in the House who have been pushing for a more
maximal version of reform.

This doesn't surprise me, the more I read. Obama, a true-blue neo-liberal, has been skeptical of public option and single payer from the getgo, when you read between the lines. He is beholden, for whatever reason, to the health insurance industry (who helped pay for his election campaign perhaps?). We need to stop being surprised about the chasm between some of his words and his real intentions/actions. Rahm Emanuel may be the real story here, as in other things.