As Democratic leaders in the Senate push harder than ever to produce some kind of watered down health care bill, their legislative boat keeps springing more leaks and threatens to sink taking President Obama's signature issue down with it. After ditching the Medicare expansion idea to get Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) on board, Harry Reid & Company still need to address at least one holdout in their own party and the American people's steadily dropping opinion of the whole idea.

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A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that those believing Obamacare is a good idea has sunk to its lowest level. Just 32 percent say it's a good idea, versus 47 percent who say it's a bad idea and by a 44-41 percent margin, respondents say it would be better to keep the current system than to pass the president's health plan. (source)

Meanwhile back on Capitol Hill, Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) said he will vote against the latest incarnation of health care reform if the bill does not ensure taxpayer dollars don't fund abortions. President Obama has been working hard to get Senator Nelson to turn his back on his principles and the wishes of his constituents, meeting with him three times in eight days most recently in a one-on-one at the White House on Tuesday. (source)

As each day passes it becomes more and more obvious that these negotiations and the health care reform issue itself have become nothing more than a political power play. The interests and opinions of the American people have been completely ignored and many of those who may have begun the process with the noble idea of real reform have abandoned their core beliefs under political pressure. Hopefully Senator Nelson is not among them.