The president's passive-voice expression of vague regret was so half-assed and self-serving that conservatives can simply sit back and let the mainstream media tee off on its inadequacy. He's not sorry for lying repeatedly in furtherance of his political goals, and he's certainly not sorry that people are losing their coverage. His law required that outcome. His promise was an intentional lie. Let the MSM opprobrium flow:
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: "The lowest low of the Obama presidency."
National Journal's Ron Fournier:
I'm sorry, too, Mr. President...I'm sorry you campaigned for reelection on the famous false promise: "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. Period." I'm sorry your aides debated whether to tell the full truth (that people could keep their insurance only if it hadn't changed and if it met your standards) and decided instead to institutionalize the lie. I'm sorry that when Americans recognized the deception you tried to reinvent history: "What we said was you can keep it if it hasn't changed since the law passed." No, no, no, no, no—that's not what you guys said. I'm sorry you didn't trust Americans with the truth.
Former MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan:
I bought a catastrophic health policy for $170/mo when I left MSNBC. Obamacare cancelled the policy. New rate $600/mo. Thnx Mr. President!
— Dylan Ratigan (@DylanRatigan) November 8, 2013
The Chicago Sun Times' Lynn Sweet:
Meanwhile, the website selling health insurance under Obamacare in Illinois and other states — Healthcare.gov — is still not fully functional and never has been since the Oct. 1 launch. A remarkable feature of Todd’s interview with Obama — whose hair is noticeably grayer — is the president’s inability to sincerely express empathy. I know he tried, but is that the best he’s got? Given that people are freaking out when they get a notice their policies are being dropped — a horrible, frustrating life experience.
Hotline's Josh Kraushaar:
With apology, Obama trying to buy time. Doesn't sound like a president confident that the website will be fixed by Nov 30.
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) November 7, 2013
Just read the full transcript of the NBC interview w Obama. Aside from the half-mea culpa, was filled with excuses.
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) November 7, 2013
Kraushaar isn't the only person who doubts Healthcare.gov will be fixed by the administration's own do-over deadline. Add Howard Dean to the list of skeptics, which includes numerous IT experts. Stories like this don't inspire much confidence either:
Today's "Operational Update on the Health Insurance Marketplace" was not especially good news: As capacity problems at the start of HealthCare.gov get fixed, tech workers are finding new capacity problems later in the application process -- ones that, up until now, they didn't know about. "Essentially what is happening is people are going through the entire process," Medicare spokeswoman Julie Bataille, who runs the daily call, told reporters. "As we have fixed certain pieces of functionality, like the account creation process, we're seeing volume go further down the application. We're identifying new issues that we need to be in a position to troubleshoot." That means that, as the HealthCare.gov team ticks items off its "punch list," it's also adding new ones that need to be addressed.
Welcome to 404 error whack-a-mole hell. Obama's tech surge czar has confirmed these obstacles and acknowledges that the site isn't even close to being fixed. Uh oh. The public is growing restless. Bear in mind that these new numbers from Pew are among adults, a pool that tends to skew more pro-Democrat than registered or likely voters:
His disapproval on healthcare is at 59 percent. And that's before the potential (likely?) missed November 30th deadline (and all of its related fallout), and the arrival of pending access shock. Not to mention the fresh round of dropped coverage and premium hikes due to arrive just before the next election. Obama's overall job approval sits at 40 percent among men and 43 percent among women. Not much of a gender gap there, folks. Dan has more on the survey here.