The other area of concern is with private insurance coverage that would compete with the public option. Although some insurance carriers would specifically not offer abortion coverage, others will. And because some Americans would be provided federal subsidies to buy coverage - and could pick policies that cover the procedure - the purity of Mr. Obama's statement that abortions are not funded under the plan gets diluted.
Segregating funding so that taxpayers' dollars don't get tainted by abortions is problematic, to say the least. And to people not overly concerned about how others handle their reproductive choices, the fuss may seem like so much hair-splitting. But this is hardly a new problem, and the decision to reverse a tradition of keeping the federal government out of abortion is unnecessarily divisive. Mr. Obama's incomplete response to concerns, meanwhile, falls somewhat shy of his commitment to transparency.
What seems increasingly obvious is that Mr. Obama tried to do too much while his political capital was strong. In the process, he has lost momentum and trust. A recent Rasmussen poll tracked Mr. Obama's performance approval at just 45 percent - his lowest so far.
