Health law shakes presidency

Obama apologizes, but that might not be enough now

WASHINGTON President Obama on Thursday unexpectedly delayed a key provision of the Affordable Care Act in hopes of quelling an uproar among the public and a revolt from congressional Democrats. Apologizing for administration missteps, he announced insurance companies would be permitted to renew for a year health care plans that fail to meet the law’s new standards.

At stake in his extraordinary meaculpa news conference at the White House was more than making a fix in a provision of the law. It was aimed at turning around a downward slide that could threaten the future of his presidency.

For more than three years, congressional Republicans have flailed at the Affordable Care Act with limited success. Now, in the space of six weeks, the botched roll- out of the

Health care “has posed a direct challenge to his standing as president.”

William Galston, Brookings Institution

federal exchange website and the broken promises over consumers being able to keep insurance plans they like have significantly eroded confidence in Obama’s signature legislative achievement and Democratic unity behind it.

Acknowledging that he hadn’t been told “directly” about the website’s flaws beforehand, Obama fueled questions about the administration’s competence and his own leadership, the most fundamental of presidential characteristics.

“We fumbled the roll- out on this health care law,” he said at one point. At another: “I do make apologies for not having executed better over the last several months.” And another: “There have been times where I thought we got, you know, slapped around a little bit unjustly. This one’s deserved, all right? It’s on us.”

But it wasn’t clear that the fix would solve the problem. Even before the news conference had ended, the industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans issued a statement warning that “changing the rules” at such a late date could destabilize the market and raise premiums. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which regulates plans in states, cautioned it was “unclear how, as a practical matter, the changes proposed today by the president can be put into effect.”

And the revolt on Capitol Hill didn’t seem to abate. House Republicans plan to vote Friday on a bill the White House opposes that would allow Americans to keep the canceled health care plans through 2014 and allow other consumers to buy them. Senate Democrats led by Mary Landrieu of Louisiana signaled they planned to move ahead with a similar

proposal that would allow consumers to keep their plans permanently.

“What’s happened in recent weeks is a dagger aimed at the heart of Obama’s presidency,” says presidential scholar William Galston of the Brookings Institution. “I say that not only because of the centrality of health care reform to the administration’s agenda and to his legacy but also because it has posed a direct challenge to his standing as president in the eyes of the American people.”

Obama’s approval- disapproval rating was 42%- 52% in the daily Gallup Poll Thursday, in the neighborhood of the beleaguered George W. Bush at this point in his second term and well below the standing of Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. For the first time in his presidency, a majority of Americans said Obama was not a strong and decisive leader.

Just a few weeks ago, 44% approved of the Affordable Care Act while 47% disapproved. Now just 40% approve and 55% disapprove, the worst ratings in at least a year.

Surely only dire circumstances could have convinced the candidate dubbed “no- drama Obama” to announce the policy change and then field questions for almost an hour. Not a person given to public introspection, his tone was contrite and even confessional at times.

To be sure, presidents have recovered from serious setbacks before. In his second term, Reagan faced the Iran- Contra scandal. Clinton survived impeachment. A booming economy could do a lot to restore Obama’s reputation.

If things go as the White House hopes, the HealthCare. gov website will be operating well by the end of this month. By the time the sign- up period ends next March, many of those now concerned about losing their plans will be persuaded that they’re better off with a new one.

At the moment, however, the Obamacare landscape is sufficiently rocky that when a reporter asked about stalled negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, it may have seemed to be a relief.