Following President Obama's joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday, NBC chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd appeared on MSNBC to dismiss a question Obama received about the latest ObamaCare mandate delay: "Republicans are trying to paint a picture of, 'There they go again. He's changing the law'....I have a feeling this one is gonna fade a little bit. Health care not itself, but I don't think this employer mandate attack by the right has a lot of legs today." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Todd's commentary was prompted by Andrea Mitchell Reports fill-in host Peter Alexander noting that Obama "had to deal with some of his domestic politics" during the diplomatic event. Todd dutifully parroted the President's spin on the issue: "...they believe that their decision on the employer mandate is much adieu about nothing. They believe this is a small thing. And you heard the President present it in the same terms as 'Hey, we've made exceptions for people on the individual mandate, this is all part of the implementation process.' He's trying to paint a picture of nothing to see here." Apparently Todd is ready to hang that picture above his mantle.
Here is a transcript of the February 11 exchange:
1:26PM ET
(...)
PETER ALEXANDER: And Chuck, back to you briefly in the East Room, just want to get your sense, there was a little bit of domestic politics as well with questions about another Affordable Care Act delay here as well. Obviously for the President – the U.S. president had to deal with some of his domestic politics, the French president with his own domestic politics, that was an issue he tried to sort of run away from.
CHUCK TODD: He did. Look, the French economy right now is not in good shape and this is probably the bigger driver of his own political problems, forget the personal life and all of that, that's only been added to it. But with the President [Obama], you heard the same thing that we've been hearing, they believe that their decision on the employer mandate is much adieu about nothing. They believe this is a small thing. And you heard the President present it in the same terms as "Hey, we've made exceptions for people on the individual mandate, this is all part of the implementation process." He's trying to paint a picture of nothing to see here.
As you and I both know, Republicans are trying to paint a picture of, "There they go again. He's changing the law and he's trying to" – and they're trying to paint a picture of, "These guys don't know what they're doing. You don't know what's gonna come next, so how do you even follow the law?" We'll see, I have a feeling this one is gonna fade a little bit. Health care not itself, but I don't think this employer mandate attack by the right has a lot of legs today.
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