Public Option! Public Option!

I have to admit that I was losing a little bit of faith in Barack Obama. I still loved him and thought he was a great choice for President but I was tiring of him doing nothing about Gay rights and backing down on a public option. He's still not doing so great on the gay rights issue but he seems to be stepping it up on a public option.

As a graduating college student who is unsure of what kind of health insurance situation I will be in after college, I really need a public option, as do many other college seniors. There seem to be a lot of people saying, "the public option is the best option, but it's not the only option." That may be true but I haven't really heard what the other options would be, except perhaps forcing insurance companies to drop the idea of refusing people insurance based on pre-existing conditions. In my opinion though, we NEED the public option. 

It seemed to me that the democrats went from toting the public option as a must-have to posing it as something that might happen if we really really need it. However, in the last few days the House, Senate and White House seem to be returning to the original goal. 

Now, most support a state back-out option. I'm not particularly pleased about that, but it's better than nothing and baby steps are sometimes necessary to reach a goal. 

Including a public option does increase the risk that the bill won't be passed. However, I will be proud of my party for taking a stand. We don't do it enough. The right may annoy me and take a stand on things totally opposite from what I believe, but they take a stand nonetheless. Maybe Bill Maher was right when he said Obama needs to get his W on. George Bush may have fucked up our country, but he did what he idiotically thought needed to be done. It's time for Obama to do what he rightly feels needs to be done.