by Carl Chancellor

Despite President Obama's commitment to signing a comprehensive health care bill this year, the fate of health care reform is anything but certain.

The summer has not been kind to the President's ambitions. In July and August, health care reform has faced wavering support from conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats in the House and Senate, heated opposition from Republican lawmakers and outright hostility from protestors, who have disrupted town hall-style meetings on health care reform.

If all that weren't enough, the progressive wing of the Democratic party, the most ardent supporters of health care reform, has threatened to bolt if the public option provision of the bill is eliminated or dramatically scaled back.

By far the most prickly issue of the health care debate, the public option would establish a government-run insurance program that would compete with private insurers. 

Supporters of the public option say it is key to providing affordable health care coverage choices by creating more competition in the industry. 

Its opponents claim the provision could put many private insurers out of business.

Eliminating the public option is a deal breaker for many liberal Democrats, who increasingly are saying negotiating with the Republicans is pointless.

However, there is hope that the recent death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who called universal health care "the cause of his life," may get some lawmakers to rethink their opposition to health care reform.

Still, the frustration is growing and the lines are hardening. Already there have been calls by some Democrats to exercise a special parliamentary procedure called reconciliation, that requires only a 51-vote majority vote for bill passage in the Senate.

Even with the death of Sen. Kennedy, the Democrats enjoy a 59 to 40 advantage in the Senate. In the House where Democrats outnumber Republicans 256 to 178, a bill needs only 218 votes to pass.

As an aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told an Associated Press reporter -- the Senate will pass a health-care bill this year "by any legislative means necessary."