Obama Plans New Smoke and Mirrors Campaign

Or perhaps bait-and-switch is a better description:

Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell POLITICO.

Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said.

“We’re entering a new season,” senior adviser David Axelrod said in a telephone interview. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.”

This is a classic misdirection play, worthy of Penn & Teller. Obama says he won't insist on a public option while the lefty Dems put it in the bill anyway and hope nobody notices. Obama knows he'll never get lefty Dems to agree to a bill without a public option and hopes he'll get credit for not insisting on it.

Sorry, too late. We're on to you, Barry.