Obama stands by public plan in Conservative radio interview

"President Barack Obama is standing his position that a public option for health insurance coverage should be considered as part of legislation to overhaul the health care system," The Associated Press reports.

"In an interview Thursday with Philadelphia-based radio talk show host Michael Smerconish, Obama said that "the press got excited and some folks on the left got a little excited" when the administration last weekend made statements indicating that a publicly-run health insurance option was just one of several alternatives. Obama said, 'What we've said is that there are a number of components to health care.' The president also said that 'the key is cost control' and that there are any number of ways to reach that objective."

Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, meanwhile, "said Thursday that Mr. Obama is struggling to get a health-care bill because he has been too deferential to the liberal wing of his party. Mr. Romney, who may challenge Mr. Obama in 2012, said on CBS' The Early Show that "if the president wants to get something done, he needs to put aside the extreme liberal wing of his party" (8/20).