Democracy for America and their unwilling ally

Democracy for America, the political organization which grew out of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean's presidential run in 2004, is today criticizing the health care package moving through the Senate. The group is dissatisfied with the growing likelihood the public option will be abandoned, and is hinging their dissatisfaction on a simple argument.

Without a public option or Medicare buy-in, the legislation's promise of expanded coverage is a disingenuous interpretation of the consumer mandate. "So, the bill doesn't actually 'cover' 30 million more Americans - instead it makes them criminals if they don't buy insurance from the same companies that got us into this mess," a press release from the group says.

Politico blogger Ben Smith reports that Democracy of line of reasoning can count at least one powerful ally in its corner, whether he wants to be there or not: President Barack Obama spent much of the primary campaign criticizing the consumer mandate as more likely to punish families for their income levels than reduce costs.