Don't assume you have won the argument

The problem I see with some of the advocacy in the health care debate is the assumption that we have already won the argument on the effectiveness of a public option. We already know health care reform won't work without it. So, naturally, we assume that any squishiness on the public option must be because of cowardice or simply selling out the the insurance companies.

The reality is that not everyone is as convinced as you are that the public option (let alone single-payer) is the way to go. It's bad strategy to insist that those who are on the fence commit their political futures to a policy that they haven't bought into (yet). It is nearly guaranteed to force them to choose against you (because that is where the institutional momentum is).