Lieberman Says He Was Never Pressed To Support The Public Option

If this is true then we see another yet a bit more evidence that the Obama administration failed in delivering true health care reform:

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) insists that the White House did not pressure him to get in line behind either a public health insurance option or a Medicare buy-in compromise during the health care debate this year.

"Well, no. I think I got pressure from the president to be for health care reform," Lieberman said when asked by HuffPost about any pressure from the administration to support either the public option or the Medicare buy-in. "I'd have to think about this, but I didn't really have direct input from the White House on this."

He added that Nancy-Ann DeParle, a top administration health care aide, downplayed the public option's significance early in the debate.

I never believe much of what comes out of Lieberman’s mouth, but he is echoing what other senators, namely Russ Feingold and Jim Webb, have said. If this is the case then President Obama owes the people who fought tooth and nail to elect him a serious explanation.

For those who have maintained that Obama never campaigned on a public option, I give you this from his campaign (PDF). It wasn’t called a “public option”, but rather a “public plan” and is mentioned throughout.