Columnist Urges Obama To Take Lead on Health Reform

"President Obama could show a little more spine when it comes to health care reform," Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus writes. According to Lazarus, Obama "has backed off from a 'public option' for people who don't receive coverage from their employer [and] has apparently decided to avoid a bruising fight over how much coverage insurance companies should provide, and at what price, when so-called online exchanges open for business in 2014." Lazarus writes, "It's clear that Obama is trying hard to salvage some semblance of health care reform in the face of unrelenting criticism from his political opponents, [but] settling for 'good enough' isn't good enough." Los Angeles Times.

• "Obama Needs To Find His Backbone on Health Care Reform" (Lazarus, Los Angeles Times, 1/9).