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With Obama claiming that he never campaigned for the public option a new probelm is presented – the “fix it later” argument. This comment by Obama has taken a lot of people by surprise. Even Ezra Klein, a strong bill backer, is calling the President’s bluff on this:

Oy. I'll defend the argument that the health-care bill that looks likely to pass is structurally similar to the health-care proposal released by the Obama campaign. But it's impossible to defend Obama's statement that "I didn't campaign on the public option." For one thing, it was in his campaign plan, which is to say, he campaigned on it. The proposal (pdf) assured voters that Obama's plan will "establish a new public insurance program available to Americans who neither qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP nor have access to insurance through their employers."