Tipsheet

The President's Non-Apology Apology

Here is what is being billed as President Obama's "apology" for having said that Americans could keep their insurance policies if they liked them:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me. We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and that we're going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this.

(NBC News, November 7, 2013)

Friends, that's not an apology. That's like having a husband who stays out all night, drinking and chasing women, who then tells his angry wife, "I'm sorry you're upset." In fact, even that example makes more sense than the word soup President Obama served up to Chuck Todd.

He's "sorry" Americans are "finding themselves in this situation"? Mr. President, they're aren't "finding" themselves anywhere except where you put them. And "the situation" they're in isn't "based on assurances they got from me." It's based on the law that you passed over the objections of every Republicans and then the regulations your Department of Health and Human Services passed.

His administration knew what would happen. So when he says he's sorry, is he lying? Or did he just not understand the ramifications of his own health care law -- ramifications about which he was amply warned, by Paul Ryan among others?

Most likely, President Obama isn't sorry it happened -- he's just sorry that you're angry about it, and very, very sorry that his poll numbers are cratering.