I absolutely agree with everything Jon Walker writes in this post at FDL in support of the public option. Contrary to the stereotype, while I agree with writers like Cohn, Klein and Yglesias on the overall bill, I've always believed that the public option is a major component of healthcare reform.
But at this point, I'm not willing to jettison the entire bill because the public option isn't there. What I'd prefer is that Congress pass this bill then we all push the long list of arguments in support of a public option and get it passed as its own legislation. This is definitely a possibility especially since it can be passed via reconciliation, and since the other reforms were passed already, reconciliation becomes less risky.
There's a lot of common ground between the two progressive factions on healthcare reform. I think if we can meet at the public option and go from there, we all win.