The political and healthcare blogosphere is all abuzz this morning over a WaPo piece yesterday in which President Obama makes the declaration that he did not campaign on the public option. As the spin begins to pile up from the Dems over the next few days’ media onslaught of reform bill coverage, leave it to this very pragmatic president to explain why he is suddenly behind this bill 100 percent.

In the interview, Obama vigorously defended the legislation, saying he is “not just grudgingly supporting the bill. I am very enthusiastic about what we have achieved.”

“Nowhere has there been a bigger gap between the perceptions of compromise and the realities of compromise than in the health-care bill,” Obama said. “Every single criteria [sic] for reform I put forward is in this bill.”

Obama said the public option “has become a source of ideological contention between the left and right. [..] I didn’t campaign on the public option.”

Hmmm, the chronicles in Doctor Pundit from last July (in the thick of an orchestrated campaign on his part to steer wavering Democrat moderates to the public option camp) paint a slightly different picture.

Obama, sensing this, held a photo op on 7/15 to tout, once again, the need for a strong public option. Feels at little like his campaign all over again, as his statements (campaign promises) court Senate Republicans (voters) for their approval (targeted votes from moderates and Obama’s ultimate bill passage victory and healthcare reform legacy).

Media Matters, the left-leaning fact checking watchdog group, cites many other instances of an Obama push for the public option as the political centerpiece to his domestic agenda. Although there is no doubt as to the scope and influence of this legislation, there’s plenty of doubt about Obama’s motives in protecting a legacy point which may not follow him to a second term.

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