So of course there won't be one

I don't know how long it's going to take, or what further proof Americans need that our government is a wholly-owned subsidiary of major corporations, and that any "representation" ordinary Americans had in their government is a thing of the past.

Despite the best efforts of the "panelists" and "pundits" on Sunday gasbag shows to convince us that Americans don't want the choice of a public health coverage plan that competes with private plans to keep them honest, the reality is something different:

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health-care plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and wins clear majority support from the public.

[snip]

On the issue that has been perhaps the most pronounced flash point in the national debate, 57 percent of all Americans now favor a public insurance option, while 40 percent oppose it. Support has risen since mid-August, when a bare majority, 52 percent, said they favored it. (In a June Post-ABC poll, support was 62 percent.)

If a public plan were run by the states and available only to those who lack affordable private options, support for it jumps to 76 percent. Under those circumstances, even a majority of Republicans, 56 percent, would be in favor of it, about double their level of support without such a limitation.

That last number is kind of interesting, given that such a plan that would be only available to low-income families is the sort of thing that is usually called "welfare".

Poll respondents are evenly divided when asked whether they have confidence in Obama to make the right decisions for the country's future, but just 19 percent express confidence in the Republicans in Congress to do so. Even among Republicans, only 40 percent express confidence in the GOP congressional leadership to make good choices.

And still the chattering classes insist that Americans want bipartisanship and think that Republican "ideas" deserve a place at the table.

It's amazing how quickly the Obama campaign turned into the Obama hackocracy once the new Administration took shape with Rahm Emanuel at the helm. This capitulation to the noisiest Republicans, the brushing off of the Democratic base -- these are all textbook Rahm, which makes me wonder just who's actually running things over at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Barack Obama was never going to be the groundbreaking progressive that so many hoped he would be, but watching him keep his hands off while Congressional Republicans bully the process and Democrats, afraid of losing their own scraps of insurance company cash, cower in the corner while Cokie Roberts insists that SHE knows what "real" Americans think.