Obama to Press, Mildly, For Public Option Tonight as White House Fights Against Perception it Lost Ground in August

President Obama will offer conditional support for a public option in his speech to Congress tonight a senior adviser said as the White House fought back against the perception August was a tough month for its health care agenda.

"The president still believes the public option is the best way to bring choice and competition to this insurance exchange," the adviser said. "He believes the public option is the way to go. But he also believes...this is not a national debate about whether we have a public option. The public (option) is a means to an end. It's not an end in and of itself. He will make that clear."

Senior advisers also said the health care policy effort - the most concerted and politically taxing of the young Obama presidency - has not lost ground during the raucous month of August town halls.

"It's become sort of an article of faith in this town that August was a big disaster for us and that the histrionics at the town hall meetings were some how damaging to the prospects for health care reform. But in all the data that I have seen that is meaningful I've seen very little movement since August 1st and now in terms of public support for health care. "

The White House made this argument hours after The Associated Press published a poll showed rising disaffection with Obama's handling of health care and a decline in his overall approval rating. Read the poll here:

Read the poll's methodology here:

The senior official said the president did lose ground politically before the August recess and can regain it starting tonight.

"Any downward movement, frankly, occurred in June and July and that was a consequence of the focus of the legislative process....a lot of focus on the trees and not the forest and a lot of random ideas ascribed to the president. So when the people comment on the president's plan they're really not commenting on his plan, they are commenting on their presumption of what the plan is. In other words, they've been focused on the trees and not the forest. Tonight is the night when he (President Obama) can describe the forest in terms that people can understand and bring some clarity to this process."

The White House says the congressional debate has reached a stage where many ideas are competing and several bills before Congress are pending and it's now time to "bring those strands together" in a speech that gives Congress a clearer roadmap of what Obama wants and what it will take to win his signature.

"Something has to get done and I think it would be a political failure not just for the president but for the Congress not to respond to what is a widely perceived problem in people's lives," the adviser said.

Senior advisers will repeat many of his broad health insurance goals, including his general support of a public option.

"He will give some detail as to how he thinks that should be approached and I don't think a lot of that will be of great surprise (to the country)," the adviser said.