In fact, I would like nothing more than to reverse the long-term rightward lurch our country has taken. I just don't have any faith that the Democrats can do it.  They have failed miserably and are hardly discernible from the Republicans anymore.  

Shit, last year the Obama fans and Hillary fans were battling out over who was holier than thou re health care.  Now that the Dem winner wins the general in a landslide and has massive public support for real health care reform we get the . . . Mitt Romney plan?  And you're castigating liberals for not knowing the art of politics and what's possible?  

We need a new strategy.  Like not being afraid to walk away empty.  Yes, we are playing for keeps.  If you haven't noticed the Dem strategy for the last 30 years has been to cave-in and give your marbles away so that you wouldn't have to lose them.  The Dems have been afraid to stand tall and have constantly been ceding ground so there is no more ground to cede.  In short, more radical change is needed and fast.    

And yes, let's do talk about real lives.  We are playing with real lives.  Over 40,000 dead in a year.  I don't care how much Obama's political operation wants to shoot the messenger of that particularly alarming fact (like leaking to their favorite source, Politico, that the messenger called a lobbyist friend of Steny Hoyer a bad name).  But people are dying every day and I don't believe the president is fighting as hard for each and every one of those lives as he should be.

Someone that wants to fix the system for real would understand we need to put a stop to this likely legislation (the pos Obama has roughly outlined for months).  It is much worse than the status quo . . .

This is not an acceptable compromise.  It kills far more people than it will ever save--it further entrenches an immoral and inefficient system.  Plus, it "reforms" health care mostly on the backs of the middle class.  

Obama is better off without passing it.  But he may pull it off yet, don't lose faith.  

• Lieberman's real motives and intentions are unclear.

• The Baucus bill is a political disaster. It would place a giant financial burden on working people who are already hurting.

• There will be a ton of pressure on the senate to get this done when the vote to close discussion on Reid's bill comes up. If the pressure isn't overwhelming then, it's not going to be.

In short, I really don't think much has changed in the last two days, and recent news just exposes the situation that already existed. Every round of public opposition just brings more pressure to bear on the Senate, and that improves the chances of a decent bill turning into law.