On Monday I floated the idea that the mixed messages from the White House with regards to the public option could have been more or less planned. Maybe the White House was hoping to get this out there in order to help fire up the base. It appears that this may actually be happening:

Noam Scheiber:

Around the conference table at TNR, we’ve been saying for weeks that what Obama really needed was a group of equally vocal, equally zealous critics on the left, pulling the debate’s center of gravity in the other direction. And, wouldn’t you know, that’s exactly what’s happened over the last 48 hours. We’ve now got a pole on the left to match the intensity of the pole on the right. (Don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting a moral equivalence between the two. As far as I’m concerned, the critics on the left are basically right and the critics on the right are either insane or deeply cynical.) From a sheer tactical perspective, I think the White House and the Democratic leadership in Congress have dramatically improved their position.

(h/t Cesca)

We are also hearing more on the left call for marches on Washington and for our side to exhibit the outrage the right has. The sad truth is that lack of civility is how things get done in this country. Think Vietnam, Malcolm X and the Iraq war. In order to win over public support people need to take to the streets and yell and scream. Our side has always been much better at that than the right. Just compare the tea parties to some of the big Iraq war protests.

So if the left really wants the health care reform this country needs and deserves then it is up to us to get out there and create one hell of a ruckus. We are only heard when we scream, so get the lungs tuned up and go for it.