On the front of Politico is an article about how the big bipartisan deals that used to be relatively common in Congress now appear to be a thing of the past. Good bye and good riddance. At their core these bipartisan deals were and are about destroying basic democratic accountability.

As I wrote earlier, the public option fight changed the progressive movement. You had a popular, compromise measure that the public supported, where advocates did everything right, and none of it mattered. Now, the head of HCAN, the labor-backed coalition trying to pass the Affordable Care Act in 2010, confirms the public option was traded away in the midst of the fight.

The progressive movement is undergoing a transformation where they no longer see engagement with candidates as the best or only strategy to advance goals. Those not hopelessly alienated by the entire political process prefer outsider strategies that force political pressure from the bottom up, rather than relying on the promises of those politicians to carry the day. That’s the new reality, and the public option fight was such a catalyzing event, that I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

Mitt Romney’s Medicare “reform” proposal is a takeoff on Paul Ryan’s voucher flim flam, shifting costs to more seniors and raising average costs for everyone. He claims to provide more choice, but seniors can already choose between straight Medicare and private insurance Medicare Advantage.

The Obama Administration did not notify Congressional supporters of the CLASS Act, a voluntary public long-term care insurance program passed with the Affordable Care Act, before pulling the plug on the idea. Advocates were left blindsided by the official announcement, though the Administration had recently released the chief actuary and shut down the offices doing the implementation of the program.

The President’s deficit reduction plan includes a non-trivial swath of Medicare and Medicaid cuts, including some cuts for public health and prevention, as well as means testing and higher co-pays for certain services.

We’re told that most of the cuts are to providers. In fact, the largest portion of cuts comes from a rebate by drug manufacturers, basically forcing the drug companies to charge lower prices for their sales to Medicare.

The California based organization, Consumer Watchdog, is looking to put a measure on the 2012 November ballot in California that would create a public health insurance option in the state and provide state regulators more control of premiums.

That 72% figure is oddly familiar.

The negotiation table is like the poker table: you don’t get a seat unless you have the chips to play. By failing to prove she actually has the will and/or the power to say no, Pelosi has shown the President she has no leverage.

Obama’s very good at making promises that will appeal to progressives, and terrible at keeping them. Or even trying to.