Sunday evening, TNR's Jon Cohn reported on the backstory of the public option negotiations between the Senate and White House:

After a weekend of furious activity on Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders in the Senate think they are close to getting the votes they need in order to pass an "opt-out" version of the public option. But they feel like President Obama could be doing more to help them, with one senior staffer telling TNR on Sunday that the leadership would like, but has yet to receive, a clear "signal" of support for their effort.... The administration could send a signal, in some form or fashion, that they support the Democratic leadership's proposal to include this public option with a state opt-out in the bill. ... a word of support from the president, from [administration spokesman Robert] Gibbs at the podium, any number of ways ... any indication of support would be appreciated by the leadership. This staffer added that administration officials "seem more interested in pursuing an Olympia Snowe strategy." The administration, meanwhile, continued to say what it was saying late last week: That Obama wants the strongest possible public option that the Senate will approve--and that it stands behind Reid's effort to build that support.... Again, the statements of the senior Senate staffer and senior administration official--each one saying what several other similarly placed sources have said, on background--are not as inconsistent as they might seem at first blush. On the contrary, it seems pretty clear (at least to me) that Obama really would prefer a strong public option--but that he, like his advisers, has serious concerns over whether such an option can pass. In other words, he wants a good public plan but he wants a bill even more--and he's not sure that the former is compatible with the latter. So he's being careful--more careful, in fact, than some of his Senate allies would like.

Clearly Senate leadership is concerned with the President's approach, as are other Senators, including Harkin and Brown. They also believe they are very close to having 60 votes, according to Schumer and that they can do more in whipping their members, if the president or his team were to provide that word in support of Reid's clear preference for the opt out public option.

This isn't the equivalent of the President or Robert Gibbs making a statement from the podium, but hopefully it's the first that will be made, hopefully followed up by Obama or his official spokesman. Late last night, Deputy Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer blogged this on the White House blog.

Senator Reid and his leadership team are now working to get the most effective bill possible approved by the Senate. President Obama completely supports their efforts and has full confidence they will succeed and continue the unprecedented progress that is being made in both the House and Senate.

If Reid is as close to 60 as Schumer says, he should take Pfeiffer's word as the President's and move forward, smoking out whichever Senator it might be who would stand as the lone Democratic vote against healthcare reform.

We might find out if that's what Reid is doing, today at 3:15. If he does announce that he's moving forward with opt out, on the basis of Pfeiffer's statement, we can assume that he will the full support of the President in doing that.