Lieberman: Obama must sway Pelosi from public option 'distraction'

President Obama should convince House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and congressional Democrats that the public option is a "distraction" in the healthcare reform debate, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) urged Tuesday.

"I hope the president, before tomorrow night and after, can convince Speaker Pelosi and others that this is a distraction and it's not the main event," Lieberman said during an interview on MSNBC.

Lieberman has been on record as opposing the public (or "government-run") option, joining other Senate centrists in opposition to the provision, a key sticking point in the health debate.

Democrats have been debating whether or not the bill can proceed without a public option, or whether the plan would need to be scaled back in order to survive House and Senate votes.

Lieberman argued there is a "broad consensus" on many elements of the health bill, but that there are "a lot of better ways, less expensive ways to" keep insurance companies honest -- a key goal of the public plan.

"So this is a moment, tomorrow night, a critical moment in the health care debate, but also in the Obama presidency, for the president to lay out his priorities here and really call on both parties to compromise to get something done, because there really is a problem," Lieberman said of the president's planned joint session address tomorrow.