The campaign arm of the DNC, Organizing For America, has delivered over 150,000 phone calls, at last count, in favor of health care reform. The President himself will deliver remarks at a “Time To Deliver” call party tonight.

Less clear is what these callers are actually asking for in the health care reform currently working its way through Congress. The President has resisted at almost any opportunity delivering specific instructions on what he wants out of health care, particularly with respect to the high-profile provision of a public option. And now, Sam Stein is reporting that Democratic aides are worried that this lack of insistence will end up squandering the opportunity to include a public option in the bill.

Democratic aides said that a “handful” of senators who are skeptical of a public plan likely could be persuaded if not to support it then at least to oppose a Republican filibuster, if the administration were to apply a bit more pressure — or even guidance.

“There is a clear sense that it would be helpful,” said one senior Democratic aide. “Throughout this entire debate the White House line has been ‘We will weigh in when it is necessary’…. Well now we need 60 votes. So if it’s not necessary now, then when will it be?”

“I think folks in general in Congress were looking to the president to clearly define his feeling on the issue,” another aide said. “And I don’t think he has done that on the public option from the get-go… With a lot of senators nervous because of elections or other political dynamics, it would be helpful for the president to send a strong signal that this is what he wants in the final bill.”

The White House has generally scoffed at this, but clearly there is power in the bully pulpit, as John Aravosis confirms. That intangible of executive leadership could be enough to push a public option over the line.

In its absence, you have these endless discussions behind closed doors in the Senate, and such winning statements as “We’re leaning toward talking about a public option,” as uttered by Harry Reid, today. Now that’s what I call being bold!

With public support for a public option increasing, this would seem to be a perfect moment to align the White House’s policy preferences with the Senate’s. Clearly, ConservaDem opposition is waning, as can be seen in that WSJ story. Two Colorado Senators not known as fire-breathing liberals, Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, just created a website demanding that the Senate give the public option an up or down vote. They have over 6,500 signatures to their petition within a few hours. Clearly, there would be no better time for the President to demand this provision. He’d almost certainly get it.

Perhaps he’ll say something on tonight’s OFA webcast. I’ll be monitoring it. Meanwhile, Senate talks continue tonight.

…via TalkLeft, Jay Rockefeller has now publicly expressed his frustration with the President:

Sen. Jay Rockefeller told CNN on Tuesday that he’s “disappointed” that President Obama wasn’t more forceful in pushing the Senate to include a public option in its health care bill. “A little bit, a little bit I’m disappointed,” the West Virginia Democrat told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I know he’s strongly for it, and I know his tactic has been to let the Congress do his work and then he’ll come in when the crunch really counts. What I’m saying is that the crunch is really beginning to count now, and I think he’s – I know he’s for it, and said so publicly, and campaigned on it, so I think it’s important that he come in at this point strongly.”

This could get interesting.