by Ben Cohen

Glenn Greenwald spells out why the Democrats must get their act together on the public option and stop compromising with the idiotic Right:

Over the past decade, theDemocratic Party has specialized in

offering up one excuse after the next for its collective failures.

During the early Bush years, the excuse was that they endorsed Bush

policies because his popularity and post-9/11 hysteria made it

politically unwise to oppose him. In later Bush years when his

popularity plummeted, the excuse was that Democrats were in the

minority and could do nothing. After 2006 when they won a

Congressional majority, the excuse was that Bush still controlled

theWhite House and had veto power. After 2008 when a Democrat won

theWhite House, the excuse was that Republicans could filibuster. Now

that they have a filibuster-proof majority, a huge margin in the House

and theWhite House, the excuses continue unabated, as Democrats are

now on the verge of jettisoning one of the most significant attractions

for progressives to the Obama campaign -- active government involvement

in the health insurance market.The excuses for "compromising"are

cascading more rapidly than ever.

ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website

If we do have a situation where the public option is negotiated away by the Democrats for no good reason, it is probably time to start building another political party capable of threatening the status quo. The public insurance option is the line in the sand that serious progressives have drawn, and they must be willing to withdraw support from the President should he cross it.