Ezra Klein is pessimistic in light of Rahm shuffling the agenda:
It is very, very, very important to be clear on what the death of health-care reform looks like. It is not a vote that goes against the Democrats. It is not an admission that the White House has moved on from the subject. It is continued statements of commitment from the key players paired with a continued stretching of the timetable. Like everything else in life, policy initiatives grow old and die, even if people still love them.
So this is Rahm's strategy: keep lying in saying that the Dems are determined to pass health reform, then wait until it dies. If that is the strategy, it is both cowardly and deceptive, and Obama himself is part of the lie, given his SOTU commitment this week.
And if Obama is a liar on this, the core honesty he campaigned on is in peril. To be this weak is one thing. To be this weak and a liar takes it to an all-new level.