We’ve been tough on U.S. Sen. Harry Reid on this blog, mostly because we assume that when one is the leader of the Democrats, and when the American people overwhelmingly put the Democrats in charge of the executive and the legislative branches of government, they want Democratic things to happen.

And Monday, they did. Reid, after apparently searching all weekend — fruitlessly — to find a 60-vote consensus on the public option, decided to do it anyway. This is called leadership, even if Reid is backed by a majority in polls who say they want the final health-care bill to include a public plan.

Sure, Reid’s compromise will have an opt-out for states. And sure, some states will opt out, denying their residents the option to get into a lower-cost government insurance program, leaving them at the mercy of an insurance industry that will soon wield a mandate that every American sign up for care.

But Reid has been saying for months that a public option would be part of the final package. It would have been easy to go back on that promise — certainly, President Barack Obama did, saying on the campaign trail it would be part of the plan, but later saying it was entirely optional. That backtracking is why many liberals and progressives are growing more disenchanted with the man they hoped would change the tone of Washington politics.

Reid took a risk with his announcement, the risk of being painted as too liberal for Nevada by his conservative critics. But for those progressives disappointed in the pace of the health-care reform debate, Reid restored a little faith, in him and in the process to work for the people for a change. (Reid’s push to end insurance industry anti-trust exemptions is another cause for celebration.)

It’s still a long way until the bill reaches Obama’s desk. There are many hurdles to overcome, including a Republican filibuster assisted by the loathsome Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. The House must pass its own version, and the two versions must be reconciled. It may very well be the final version looks significantly different than the version Reid talked about on Monday, and got criticized for today. But for the present moment, everybody — especially progressives and liberals — should be grateful to Harry Reid for doing the right thing.