David Pleasant

President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might not have a spine, but Speaker Pelosi does (sometimes).

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a clear message Thursday to congressional negotiators on the health-care bill — dropping the public option would destroy any chance for comprehensive reform.

“There is no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option,” she told an audience at her home district in San Francisco, California.

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“If somebody can come up with a better idea, let them put it on the table,” she said. “We haven’t heard that yet. So we’re fighting very hard for the public option.”

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“If someone thinks that a co-op can work for their state, that’s fine,” she said. “If they want to have one for their state, perhaps that could be included in the legislation. But it is not a substitute for a public option.”

Pelosi was adamant that Democrats need to take full advantage of the fact that they now control the White House and have unusually large House and Senate majorities.

“Let me just be very clear,” she said. “If we don’t pass this bill with all the comprehensive aspects of it now, I don’t know when we’ll have a chance to do it.”

Ouch!

"It’s almost immoral what they are doing," Pelosi said to reporters, referring to insurance companies. "Of course they’ve been immoral all along in how they have treated the people that they insure," she said, adding, "They are the villains. They have been part of the problem in a major way. They are doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening."

Now the question is, is Pelosi just all hat and no cattle? Is she going to follow through with action or is that just red meat to appease us plebes?

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says she might keep the House in session until they get a bill passed. She also indicated she wants to see the Senate Finance Committee’s version of the health care bill before committing to anything. I suppose her objective is to determine just how far apart the two versions are. If there are stark differences, then I’m rather confident they will all go their merry way to enjoy their vacations. That is assuming the Senate Finance Committee has anything to show soon. I wouldn’t bet on it.

I will be very surprised if anything substantial materializes before the August recess. That won’t help the end game. The echo chamber on cable will take control if they adjourn and that could be the death nail in Obama’s plan. I hope I’m wrong.