Barack obama’s challenge

The president is throwing down the gauntlet to Republicans:

"I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a last vote on health care reform. We have debated this subject thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades. Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It have previously passed the Senate with a supermajority of 60 votes. And now it deserves the similar kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the Children's Health Insurance Program, COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and both Bush tax cuts - all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority."
Republicans will decline this almost instantly. One conservative website has already put together a montage of clips showing Obama saying he would not govern like this.

CNN are quoting a White House insider saying this is a "last helicopter out of Saigon" plan. Fleeing a lost war is not the most hopeful metaphor for an adviser to adopt. And it still might go down in flames.