"In his presser, Harry Reid said very little about what kind of an "opt-out" he'll put in the final bill.
The good news: Pressure on Reid from progressives when his poll numbers are flagging made him defy the White House. More importantly, he ratted them out to the press. Rahm thought he could continue to push for triggers in the background and satisfy the base by mouthing gibberish about "the President supports a public option" until it was too late. It didn't work out so well. The bad news: Having a state opt-out that will make corporatist Democrats happy is quite likely not to be "available nationwide from day one," and thus does not meet the the definition of a "robust public option" by anyone's terms. Depending on how an opt-out was written, it could potentially disenfranchise large parts of the population:" Read more: by Jane Hamsher 10/26/09 http://snipurl.com/st0sa http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/10/26/reids-opt-out-the-devil-is-in-the-details/