The Politico reports that the president "walked back" Rahm Emanuel's statement about the public option.
"I am pleased by the progress we're making on health care reform and still believe, as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest. I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals."
But if you look at Emanuel's statement, he appeared to be in favor of a public option, but with a trigger.
We don't want any triggers.
So I don't know if this is a walking-back of anything. Until the president puts his considerable popular muscle behind a robust public option without strings, then we can only assume his position is soft.