Will he or won't he? Everyone's waiting to see what President Obama will say in tomorrow night's speech. Will he draw a line in the sand over the public option? Despite the president's rousing speech yesterday, this article makes it seem doubtful.

Here's the problem in a nutshell: President Obama is looking for "something he can call a public option," not an actual public option. He wants a political compromise above an actual solution - an approach which may work on some issues, but is ill-suited to the magnitude of this health care crisis:

Amid fresh signs that the White House is preparing to back a scaled-down health care overhaul that would only include a public insurance option as a fallback plan, several House liberals told Roll Call that they could support such a bill depending on how it was structured. The “trigger” approach has been considered a deal-killer by liberals on and off Capitol Hill, and the willingness of some Congressional Progressive Caucus members to entertain it reflects a recognition that a bruising August recess has imperiled prospects for reform and redrawn expectations for what is possible. “This is a way to get a bill,” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said. “I believe it’s worth listening to because I want legislation that is going to, in some shape or form, expand coverage and bring down the cost of health care.”

Boy, that's a far cry from what we heard a year ago, isn't it? Because we're not all that interested in Massachusetts-style mandates that not only aren't worth anything to people whose budgets are already stretched too thin, it imposes an additional burden for the privilege. And it sounds like the progressive caucus is starting to crack.