Had we gotten it, the Republicans would undoubtedly have starved and subverted it in order to "prove" that public solutions are always inferior to private ones. This is precisely the dynamic that is undermining our public school system.

As former Amtrak President David Gunn once put it, "First you starve us. Then you yell at us for being too skinny."

I fear that would've been the fate of the public option. It certainly would've been better than the mandated corporate giveaway, but because it would appear to be a government plan, it might've done long-term damage for true national healthcare.