Obama Rejects Critics on Health Care Bill

President Obama hit back today at critics who say he's compromised too much on health care legislation, charging that "every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill." In an interview with the Washington Post, he bemoaned how much the public option in particular had become such a "source of ideological contention," but added, "I didn't campaign on the public option."

Obama cited the coverage of 30 million additional Americans, projected savings of $1 trillion over two decades, and a patients' bill of rights among the reforms that will be in place. The Senate bill, he says, hits 95% of the goals he set forth in his campaign. "(I'm) not just grudgingly supporting the bill," he said. "I am very enthusiastic about what we have achieved." (More Barack Obama stories.)