Obama: "You're going to destroy my presidency."

President Obama could hardly be described as insecure or lacking in self-confidence. Or could he? A report on CongressDaily this morning suggests that a recent comment by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) hit close to home for the president.

The comment came last Friday while Senate Republicans were discussing Obama's healthcare plan. "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," said the senator. Now, there is speculation that that comment will hurt any chance for bipartisan support of the healthcare legislation:

[Charles] Grassley said he spoke with a Democratic House member last week who shared Obama's bleak reaction during a private meeting to reports that some factions of House Democrats were lining up to stall or even take down the overhaul unless leaders made major changes.

"Let's just lay everything on the table," Grassley said. "A Democrat congressman last week told me after a conversation with the president that the president had trouble in the House of Representatives, and it wasn't going to pass if there weren't some changes made … and the president says, 'You're going to destroy my presidency.

The "Democrat congressman" remains anonymous, but this insider's tip is quite interesting and could alter the debate. If Obama himself is this worried about his public option, Republicans and moderate Democrats are a lot less likely to support it. Maybe Obama's having second thoughts about hanging his presidency on health care reform. Here's hoping Senator DeMint has some more clever comments up his sleeve.

More from Reason on Obama's healthcare plan here, here and here.