No offense to some of my colleagues in the blogotubes, but I wish people would stop writing about how the public option is dead. I kind of know what they mean -- the public option as it pertains to the current bill(s). But the public option is not dead.
The passage of reform will absolutely make it easier to pass the public option later, and that's probably what will happen. I have no idea when, but I do know that if we begin to condition ourselves to the "public option is dead" language, we'll be less inclined to bust ass for it later.
Speaking of which, I trust that following passage of reform the kill-billers will be immediately launching their campaign to pass a public option bill, along with additional legislation to improve the legislation. No?