People were blaming Obama for not pushing for the "public option" in Obamacare. But the democratic majority was just a numeric, not liberal.
He had zero chance with these conservative "democrats" in office:
Joe Lieberman: He loudly threatened to vote against the bill if the public option was included (his wife was also a health insurance executive)
Ben Nelson: Obama had to bend over to get his vote... Remember the
"cornhusker kickback"?
Max Baucus
Mary Landrieu
Arlen Specter (he switched parties in 2009 and it still couldn't save his ass)
Mark Pryor
Jon Tester
Blanche Lincoln
Jim Webb
Evan Bayh
Kent Conrad
The bill passed
60-39 just to break the filibuster thru reconciliation. Obama needed every single one of those votes.
Those senators paid the price too:
none of them was reelected.