He killed the public option, I think.

Furthermore, I wonder about his supposition on the numbers of those who will apply for the public option part of the plan (if there even IS a public option in the final plan).

Only a fool will not see that.

That is why it was terrible - he killed the public option UNLESS the Progressive Block sticks to its guns.

Obama is their enemy on the public option now.

Before he was a bystander.

Why did he take this tack? Because he wants the PO out.

All the rest? Well the pretty words we all have heard before are repeated. Nothing new.

To me the only thing that actually mattered was what signal was Obama going to send on the PO. He did. Get it out. NOW. I want my win!

True, "public colleges and universities provide additional choice and competition to students without in any way inhibiting a vibrant system of private colleges and universities." But what kind of choice and competition is that, in an environment where access to truly superior private education is effectively blocked to all but a minority of American postsecondary students?

Does Obama's analogy (unintentionally? accurately?) suggest that the "public option" will be an inferior plan that's only for people who can't afford private insurance or who otherwise fail to meet the standards of the private insurance companies?

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) should be censured for
showing blatent disrespect towards the President.
Afterall, the GOP believed that it was wrong to
show such disrespect towards the President
during Bush's tenure.

Considering the brain power and experience level of commenters on this blog, I daresay, I must declare Obama's speech a failure now, on simple grounds he did not make the important parts clearer. If none of us can come to agreement on WORM, then it failed.

With the PO, what Obama proposed meets my minimum requirements.  Without it, it does not.  

I guessed and was right that it was Obama's typical Rorcharchian(sp) nonsense, PO being a case in point.  People who think that anyone who chooses to can opt into the PO have decided that he said it was so.  People who think it will control premium costs for the poor have decided it was so.  People who think Obama is killing the PO have decided based on what he said that it was so.

The bottom line is he really told nothing about any aspect of the plan.  Obviously there were detail that could be published (e.g. where the 5% PO coverage estimate came from).  He chooses not to.  He chooses to confuse.

Haven't we been through this before during the primary and general election?  He made statements during the election to mislead and then after the election, he told people essentially that they misread him.  He's doing it again now.

Personally, I think something should be done but this scrapped.  It is mostly junk.  

Give some tax breaks to help people afford insurance (I say this reluctantly because I've seen private and public industry suck up subsidies, leaving little or nothing to the consumer, so I don't think it's a super worthwhile idea, but it might help some).  Expand healthcare for the poor.  Expanding Medicaid is the first thing that comes to mind, but it is yet another starved non-funded program, so I dunno, but something has to be done.  Nix the mandates so that people have the option of opting out of insurance if premiums get too high (because opting out is the only control we have over premiums either now or with the new plan).

On a personal level, I am glad to have new regulations that will require insurers to offer coverage without regard to pre-existing conditions and stop them from dropping coverage when someone becomes ill.  

I really wish there was a public option. From the tone of his speech, I think it's pretty clear that the public option--if there is one--will be weak. But people here are saying that this reform is nothing, that this was the "worst speech ever," that his plan is even worse than doing nothing, hello primaries 2012. It's as though this is some popularity contest where everyone's trying to outdo one another to have the best and most stinging criticism. Way to go, guys! You should team up with the people saying there are death panels--they got a lot of attention.

Maybe I'm naive, but I trust the man that I voted for and I believe this is the man that I voted for. I have more faith than to start jumping ship or throwing stones at everything he tries to do. He didn't bring the sun, the moon, and the stars, but he brought something, and there are still a lot more positive things that he can do in office.