<sigh> We're in a loop.
You've consistently said, "He didn't have the votes." The truth is, my friend, that we will never know because he decided he did not want to gamble. He decided that despite public support of nearly 70% for it, he didn't want to risk being unable to persuade establishment politicians in the Senate to vote in their constituents' interests. This is precisely the cause of the disillusionment with him from the Left. In 2008, many thought they were voting for "Change They Could Believe In" or more precisely that we'd finally have a President who would support the people's will, instead of Wall Street's. He could have let (at least) the public option bill *passed by the House* go to the Senate and then try to shame the Senate (held by his own party no less) into being a part of the real change he had campaigned on. If he had done that (and even FAILED!) he would have won re-election in a landslide over Mittens. And those who did not vote for a bill with a public option might have been forced from office by the very same crowd that voted for Obama in 2008, but stayed home in '10 and '12.
I know the horse is dead. I'm just not happy that the leader of the Democratic Party is the one that shot it.
