WashPo columnist: Harry Reid folds, public option back on table

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) represents a state with a lot of casinos. But as Dana Milbank points out in a Washington Post column, the Nevadan is gambling with our future so he can shore up support with the left-wing elements of his party. Reid faces a tough reelection fight next year.

What Harry Reid did Monday afternoon gave new meaning to the phrase "public option."

The Senate majority leader, after haggling behind closed doors with members of his Democratic caucus, realized that he couldn't cobble together the 60 votes he needed to pass health-care legislation with a government-run health plan. So Reid chose another option: He shut down the private talks, booked the Senate TV studio and went public with his own proposal.

"I've concluded," he told the roomful of cameras and reporters, "that the best way to move forward is to include a public option."

For Reid, it was an admission of the formidable power of liberal interest groups. He had been the target of a petition drive and other forms of pressure to bring the public option to the floor, and Monday's move made him an instant hero on the left. Americans United for Change hailed him for refusing "to buckle in the face of withering pressure from the big insurance companies." MoveOn.org admired his "leadership in standing up to the special interests."

Meanwhile, Nancy Reid, cognizant that the term "public option" has negative connotations, is pushing a new term--consumer option.

UPDATE 2:30pm CDT: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who caucuses with the Democrats, says he will join Republicans and filubuster any bill with a public option.

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