Progressives may be denied their overriding health care priority this time around, but according to President Barack Obama, it won’t be over with this bill.

Obama urged leading progressive Democrats in a closed-door meeting Thursday evening to back the health care bill, placating their concerns about the public option and warning them that the liberal agenda was at stake.

Obama told the group of House members he thought the public health insurance option didn’t have the votes this time, but reportedly assured them he’ll revisit it after the bill’s passage, warning that failure would imperil the issue for a generation.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) said after the meeting that Obama’s message was, “If this opportunity passes, much of our agenda, on the progressive side…it would be difficult, if not impossible for a generation to get back to this issue,” according to <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/obama-to-progressives-31-million-people–and-my-presidency–are-on-the-line-if-health-care-fails.php" target="_blank"Talking Points Memo.

“To maintain a strong presidency we need to pass this bill,” Grijalva summarized Obama’s remarks.

The congressman noted in a statement to reporters he was “encouraged” after Obama “personally committed to pursue a public option after passage of the current bill.”

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) added, “He encouraged us to understand that this is the beginning of health care reform, not the end of it — and that we will fix it later, as we have with Social Security and Medicare,” in an interview with The Plum Line’s Greg Sargent.

“He doesn’t believe the Senate has 51 votes for the public option,” Woolsey said. She added that Obama “thanked” the assembled, telling them their advocacy made the bill much stronger and that this wouldn’t be the end for health reform.

Grijalva and Woolsey, the two co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, have lately withheld their support for the bill but sounded sold on it by last night.

Sargent reported that Woolsey said “she’s now a definite Yes on the Senate bill” even if it excludes the public option. The congresswoman last week told Raw Story that if the public option fails she would introduce it in a separate package soon after its enactment. ….

“It’s pretty compelling,” said Grijalva, who on Wednesday told Salon he’s leaning toward voting no, of Obama’s remarks.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Obama told them in the meeting that “31 million people will have health insurance as a result of this bill.”

Read the full article, here.

See President Obama thanks Progressives For Advocacy to Make the Bill Better, Daily Kos, March 3, 2010, by TomP.

From the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: Please help with your contribution for the final push on the health care reform bill.