I don’t get why this is treated as a surprise, given the news reports that several administration officials, including Rahm, and Peter Orszag, were quoted as being supportive of the trigger on the public option. They’re not making their support for co-operatives or a "trigger" on the public option a secret when they say that they’re open to these alternatives. If you say you’re open to that issue, then you’re leaving room for support of that issue.

Here’s Greg Sargent at The Plum Line about how White House administration officials are pushing the trigger on the public option as a compromise to progressives:

Two high profile liberals are now suggesting that senior White House officials may be privately trying to sell progressive groups on a public option with a “trigger,” in the belief that it’s the only way to get Olympia Snowe’s support and get a bill through the Senate.

If this is true — and I’m not at all persuaded that it is — it would mean that the White House is moving away from a pure public option, which would surely inflame House liberals and perhaps lead to an intra-party schism.

The WH’s support for a trigger has been recorded as early as July when Rahm Emmanuel openly talked about that in interviews, and to just today with Peter Orszag as reported by our Jon Walker. If this is a secret, then it’s one of the worst-kept secrets in Washington, D.C.