Health Care debate rages on

Democrats have been dreaming of universal health care since Truman, and they're now entering a critical phase of what is largely believed to be a one-shot opportunity to make it happen.
Unfortunately for Democrats, their chief champion of reform, as well as universal coverage, Ted Kennedy, has yet to reach full strength and is still absent from key Washington debates. Also, Robert Byrd, the aging senior senator from West Virginia, is also incapacitated with a staph infection. Then there's also of course, the Minnesota recount court trial going on right now, which is keeping Al Franken off the floor. 57 may seem like a pretty robust number for a Senate majority, but with a public health care option being seriously discussed, Republicans (who are not really at the table for this discussion anyway) are fleeing en masse and the shaky relationship that has been built with private health care companies recently is in jeopardy of falling apart.
President Obama sent a letter to key Democratic senators outlining exactly what he wanted without boxing them or himself in. He reiterated his goals not to have this issue slow-walked in the Senate, let it be known that the public option is on the table, and that there has to be a way to pay for this without deepening the deficit.
Obama and top Democrats have said that "the stars are aligned" to get health care reform passed this year, and are doing anything within their power not to fall into the same pitfalls that derailed Bill Clinton's attempts at health care reform in 1993. Including letting loose a legislative army from the White House and making sure that the popular new president is out and visible, taking the lead, so that Republicans can't hang the health care albatross -- should it fail -- around the necks of rank and file dems in the House and Senate next year when the midterm elections come.