Andrea Mitchell led off her Tuesday MSNBC show by introducing a presidential speech defending ObamaCare: “President Obama is now about to give his speech on his health care law. A law that faces an uncertain future as we await a landmark Supreme Court decision....The Court could strip 6.4 million people of health insurance subsidies.”
While the Supreme Court possibly dismantling the President’s signature policy would seem like a major blow to Democrats, Mitchell saw it a different way: “A possibility that might create big problems for Republicans in swing districts.”
Following Obama’s speech, Mitchell turned to correspondent Peter Alexander and fretted: “...the second day in a row he’s talked about health care, selling it all over again in anticipation of a Supreme Court decision that could basically take the heart out of health care with the subsidies that are at risk in this case...”
Alexander parroted the President’s talking points:
Yesterday when we heard from the President in Germany he said among other things, quote, “Frankly it probably shouldn’t even have been taken up by the Court”....Today his argument was a little bit more a defense of the health care law itself. He dismissed the ideas of these Chicken Little warnings, the doom and gloom predictions, saying all of them had proved untrue.
Neither Mitchell nor Alexander made any mention of increasing health care premiums in the wake of ObamaCare – a fact the broadcast networks have also ignored.
Later on the program, Mitchell talked to White House communications director Jen Psaki and lobbed a softball about the GOP being in trouble from a ruling against ObamaCare: “Is it your analysis now, as some are saying, that Republican members of Congress even are concerned that the Supreme Court will invalidate the subsidies and that they will then have to deal with a very popular part of the health care law, the 6.4 million people who now depend on those subsidies?”
Predictably, Psaki replied: “You’re right, Andrea. One in three uninsured Americans are now covered. And the fact is, people across the country are experiencing the benefits of this health care law.”
Back in May, the Associated Press similarly saw a Republican Party in “damage control” over the “ugly potential fallout” if the Court ruled against the health care law.
None of Mitchell’s coverage included an examination of ObamaCare’s unpopularity. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll found “record low support” for the law, with 54% opposed and only 39% in favor.
Here are excerpts of the June 9 Andrea Mitchell Reports:
11:59 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: And good day, I'm Andrea Mitchell in Washington. President Obama is now about to give his speech on his health care law. A law that faces an uncertain future as we await a landmark Supreme Court decision in the next few weeks. The Court could strip 6.4 million people of health insurance subsidies. A possibility that might create big problems for Republicans in swing districts. Let's listen to the President as he’s about to address a Catholic audience about the health care law.
(...)
12:23 PM ET
MITCHELL: And joining me now is NBC’s Peter Alexander and The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein. Peter at the White House, the President now speaking, it’s the second day in a row – well, yesterday he took questions on this – the second day in a row he’s talked about health care, selling it all over again in anticipation of a Supreme Court decision that could basically take the heart out of health care with the subsidies that are at risk in this case which is pending in the next couple of weeks.
PETER ALEXANDER: Yeah, Andrea, that's exactly right. Yesterday when we heard from the President in Germany he said among other things, quote, “Frankly it probably shouldn’t even have been taken up by the Court.”
Today his argument was a little bit more a defense of the health care law itself. He dismissed the ideas of these Chicken Little warnings, the doom and gloom predictions, saying all of them had proved untrue. He said – a fact that the White House put out earlier today as part of a launch of a new website that they are now touting, which is that 16 million plus Americans have now gained coverage as a result of this law.
And his desire was really to make this convincing case right now to Americans – there’s not much he can do about the Court’s take on it right now – but to Americans that this law needs to exist as it is right now and that millions of Americans would be impacted if this, as he described it, “reality” is taken away from them.
MITCHELL: And thanks to Peter Alexander.
(...)
12:48 PM ET
MITCHELL: And President Obama earlier this hour invoked the memory of Senator Ted Kennedy as he defended his health care law. A legacy that could be in jeopardy depending on what the Supreme Court does in the coming weeks.
White House communications director Jen Psaki joins me now.
JEN PSAKI: Hi, Andrea. Great to be here.
MITCHELL: Hi, good to see you. Well, thank you very much. The President – this is the second day in a row that he's talking about health care. And this speech today, a very detailed defense of the health care law. Is it your analysis now, as some are saying, that Republican members of Congress even are concerned that the Supreme Court will invalidate the subsidies and that they will then have to deal with a very popular part of the health care law, the 6.4 million people who now depend on those subsidies?
PSAKI: You’re right, Andrea. One in three uninsured Americans are now covered. And the fact is, people across the country are experiencing the benefits of this health care law. So it becomes more challenging when people in your state are saying, “Well, wait a second, we now aren’t getting charged for pre-existing conditions. Because I'm a woman, I'm not going to be charged more. I can make sure that my child or my mother has health care coverage.” That makes it more challenging.
Now we don’t have any insight into when or how the Supreme Court will rule, but as the President talked about today, he came into office feeling that he had a moral obligation, we all have a moral obligation, to make sure people have access to affordable health care and we’re certainly hopeful that, that will be able to continue.
(...)
