NBC’s Chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd made a stunning statement Wednesday.
Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Todd said, “I think they made a gigantic PR mistake by embracing the ObamaCare label because I think when he’s out there saying ObamaCare, it automatically politicizes something that when you want Walgreens out there telling people about healthcare, you don't want to put Obama's name in front of it” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: So Chuck Todd, let's turn to the polls right now. You know what? Okay, so Congress, everybody hates Congress. That’s not breaking news. Barack Obama's lowest numbers since 2011. But he's at 45 percent. That may bounce up to 48 percent. I don't know that that has a huge impact right now. If it goes down another five points, then yeah, then let's talk. But the number that grabs me is ObamaCare. The number’s so exceptionally low going into the year where it's going to face implementation. This is an issue Republicans can ride once again in the off-year elections. What does the White House think it needs to do to turn those numbers around?
CHUCK TODD: Well, they have to figure out how to campaign on it. Right? And you see you have the political arm trying to do paid advertising on it at this point. You know, it's amazing how divisive this is. We also asked that question, should Republicans, you know, continue to try to essentially prevent the law from going into effect or should they stop their repeal efforts? When you look at it overall, it is right down the middle. 51 percent say Republicans should stop these repeal efforts. 45 percent no, no, no, no, keep going. When you look at it by party, it is an ideological huge split, you know, huge split. Right? Basically 79 percent of Democrats saying no, you know, stop repealing. 79 percent of Republicans saying you know, no, keep going, do everything you can.
So, the other part of this, Joe, is you have two political parties who are rationally listening to their voters, who are acting rationally based on the feedback they're getting from their constituents. And all it's going to do is lead to more of what I think we're in the middle of. So, look, the President’s going to have to figure out how to campaign on it. I think they made a gigantic PR mistake by embracing the ObamaCare label because I think when he’s out there saying ObamaCare, it automatically politicizes something that when you want Walgreens out there telling people about healthcare, you don't want to put Obama's name in front of it, because it puts a politician, any politician's name in front of it. I think it was cutesy at the moment in time. Like Obama should have said, “Hey, I kind of like it because it means I care.” To actually embrace it? Stupid!
Now what's stunning about this statement isn't it's accuracy, for indeed it was stupid of the President to embrace the ObamaCare label.
Since he is a tremendously divisive figure, his name on this piece of legislation likely makes it more unpopular.
What's stunning is that the Obama-loving Todd would admit it while cameras were rolling.
Of course, he said it at 8:30 in the morning on a show virtually no one watches.
Will he make the same statement on the Nightly News for example in extended primetime?
Stay tuned.
