President Obama has turned the left into some very unhappy campers on health care and could lose their support in 2012 if he doesn;t push harder for a public option.

From the Politico

Several dozen former Obama campaign supporters gathered in front of the White House shortly after noon to demand that …

… the president insist on the creation of a public option for health insurance – and threatened to work against Obama in 2012 if he doesn’t.

“Any health reform that does not have the public option is not change we can believe in,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the group Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which organized the protest.

The demonstrators called on Obama to stand squarely behind a voluntary, government-run insurance option in his speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night. A handful of protesters spoke out, including field organizers from Ohio, Missouri and Pennsylvania, and supporters from Colorado and Virginia.

“I don’t know how hard my volunteers are going to work in the future if the president gives up now,” said Mike Elk, an Obama campaign field organizer in Pennsylvania. “Don’t demobilize the troops before the big fight with the insurance industry. We can win this one.”

Katie Brown, an organizer in Colorado, took the sentiment a step further, saying if Obama does not support a public option, “I would have to work for someone else who would support a public option in a primary in 2012.”

The protesters held signs reading: “I’m a former Obama staffer and I support the public option.”

“I will not work for Barack Obama even though I worked my butt off for him in the last presidential cycle – I will not work for him again if he abandons the public option,” said Lauryn Beer, who campaigned for Obama in Virginia. “And I don’t know of any other way to drive down the insurance company monopolies and their high costs in all of our states across this country without the public option.”

Protesters relayed stories of conversations with Organizing for America and White House staffers who have reportedly said in private that they agree Obama should not give up the public option. Some recounted the sacrifices campaign supporters made to work for Obama last year – “We quit jobs, we left girlfriends, we put off student loans, we put off a lot in our lives, we dropped out of school,” Elk said.

Andrea Gleaves, a field organizer in Missouri said of Obama: “He needs to lead, and he can lead with a public option tomorrow night.”

The president now finds himself with a difficult choice.  Supporting the public option means maintaing the support of the left which was very important to his victory last November.  Backing away from the public option though gives his health care bill a fighting chance. At this time it seems that Obama would prefer to get a health care bill passed at any cost rather than worry about what the left says or does. But that strategy is fraught with risk as the left has already shown it isn’t afraid to criticize the president and could be a thorn in his side for the remainder of his presidency.

 

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