memeorandum: Obama in Bind Trying to Keep Health Law Vow (New York Times)

10:30 AM ET, November 13, 2013

Top Items:

Troubled HealthCare.gov unlikely to work fully by end of November — Software problems with the federal online health insurance marketplace, especially in handling high volumes, are proving so stubborn that the system is unlikely to work fully by the end of the month as the White House has promised …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, “The Lid” and White House Dossier

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

It's Good That You Can't Keep Your Insurance Plan — Obama was wrong to mislead people but right to scrap dysfunctional insurance products. — “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.” That was the promise Barack Obama made to insured Americans when stumping for his signature health insurance overhaul back in 2009 and 2010.

Discussion: First Read, Business Insider and The Week

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Obama is boxed in by Bill Clinton — President Obama scrambled to find a coherent response Tuesday after former President Clinton jammed the administration by saying it should keep its promise that people could keep their health insurance plans if they liked them.

Discussion: Instapundit

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Obama's critic-in-chief strikes again — President Bill Clinton — the man President Barack Obama once dubbed his “Secretary of Explaining Stuff” — once again has some explaining of his own to do with the Obama White House. — In an interview released Tuesday, Clinton called for a fix …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, BizzyBlog, The Moderate Voice and Rush Limbaugh

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Obama's Image as “Strong and Decisive Leader” Takes a Hit — Public approval of his handling of the economy and healthcare largely steady — PRINCETON, NJ — After six messy weeks — defined chiefly by the partial government shutdown and troubled rollout of the federal government's …

Discussion: Politico, Post Politics and PostPartisan

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

Feinstein becomes 5th Dem on bill fixing ObamaCare — Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Tuesday became the fifth Senate Democrat to formally call for a rewrite of ObamaCare so people who like their health insurance can keep it. — Feinstein announced that she would join Sen. Mary Landrieu's bill …

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Bill Clinton Is Wrong. This Is How Obamacare Works.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, American Spectator, Politico, CNN, The Hinterland Gazette, Post Politics, The Dish, p m carpenter's commentary, Yahoo! News and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:
Obama in Bind Trying to Keep Health Law Vow

Discussion: Wonkblog, The Week, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, WJLA-TV, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Weekly Standard, Sister Toldjah, BuzzFeed, Roll Call, ABC News, BBC, The Daily Caller, TIME and NBCNews

Brian Beutler / Salon:
GOP about to hurt itself again!: New ploy to kill Obamacare will blow up

Discussion: cbpp.org, The Plum Line, No More Mister Nice Blog, RealClearPolitics Video Log, The Mahablog and Daily Kos

Washington Post:

Democrat Mark Herring gets a leg up in Va. attorney general's race in late ballot count — State Sen. Mark R. Herring padded his still-narrow lead over state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain on Tuesday night in the race for Virginia attorney general, giving the Democrat an apparent 163-vote advantage …

Discussion: Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune and Election Law Blog

TIME:
With 106 Vote Attorney General Victory, Virginia Democrats Sweep State

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post and Talking Points Memo

Elizabeth Titus / Politico:
Virginia AG race: Democrat widens lead

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG

Abby D. Phillip / ABC News:

Exclusive: Obamacare's Mystery Woman Says She Fell Victim to Cyberbullies … The smiling woman who was once the face of the Affordable Care Act's website has come out of the shadows to stand up to the “cyberbullying” she says she suffered after the law's flawed kickoff.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, National Review and ABC News

Phillip M. Bailey / WFPL:

Mitch McConnell Wants Kentucky Senate Race to Focus on Obamacare Woes — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell reiterated his call to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act and predicted Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes will run away from the law. — The GOP leader made the remarks …

Discussion: Politico

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

A reversal of fortune for Democrats after Obamacare — Two months ago, polls showed Democrat Kay Hagan leading prospective opponents by double digits in her quest for a second term representing North Carolina in the Senate. — So why is she so nervous? — Well, her problem begins with Obamacare …

Discussion: Washington Times, Hit & Run, Taylor Marsh, National Review and AEIdeas

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
NC Senate race tightens up

Discussion: Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo

Brett Norman / Politico:

Issa panel turns to Obamacare tech — The table is set for House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa's first public feast on the Obamacare rollout disaster, with a handful of Obama administration tech officials set to testify under oath Wednesday. — But a full-blown committee food fight is already underway.

Discussion: CNN

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:
CNN's Dana Bash: Friday ‘De Facto Deadline’ Before Dems ‘Defy’ Obama, Back GOP's Obamacare Fixes

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Hot Air

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Dems to White House: Fix Obamacare, and fast

Discussion: ThinkProgress, National Review, Wall Street Journal, Real Clear Politics, Betsy's Page, Roll Call, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Politico and Ozymandias

CNN:
White House technology chief to testify at hearing

Discussion: Politico

James Carville / TheHill:

Not so fast, my friend — In my column two weeks ago, I bet that Terry McAuliffe would have a decisive win in Virginia but that it wouldn't be enough for the Washington media elite. — Look, I'm not one of those people who always has to be right — when I'm wrong, I fess up.

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

Why It's Not Too Late for the ‘Keep Your Health Plan’ Act — With millions of Americans losing their health insurance because of Obamacare, bills have been introduced in Congress to let people keep their plans. — But health industry consultant Bob Laszewski says it's too late for these measures …

Discussion: Hot Air

Alleigh Marre / National Republican Congressional …:
Kurt Schrader's “grossly misleading” ObamaCare hypocrisy

Discussion: Oregonian, Power Line, Hot Air, Yahoo! News and National Review

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Dem. Rep: Obama ‘misleading’ on ACA

Discussion: The Week, Real Clear Politics and The Daily Caller

Dallas News:

One fired, three suspended after undercover health care video — By: myfoxdfw.com Staff - email — The Urban League of Greater Dallas fired one person and suspended three others after a video from a conservative activist reportedly showed the workers encouraging health care applicants to lie.

Discussion: National Review, Twitchy, UrbanGrounds, James O'Keefe's Project … and “The Lid”

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:

Richard Cohen Defends Column: ‘Word Racist Is Truly Hurtful’ — Richard Cohen says that his latest piece was not intended to be and shouldn't be read as racist. — “The word racist is truly hurtful,” he told The Huffington Post on Tuesday. “It's not who I am. It's not who I ever was.

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
WaPo Publisher Calls Cohen Column ‘Brilliant’

Discussion: Liberaland, ThinkProgress, Booman Tribune, Mediaite, The Other McCain, Feministing, The Atlantic Online, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, The Raw Story, The Wrap, Slate, The Hinterland Gazette and Gawker

Jose DelReal / Politico:

Charles Krauthammer: Death of ‘liberalism’ — Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer sees “the collapse of American liberalism” in sight, in no small part because of the troubled rollout of the Affordable Care Act. — “We have not just Obamacare unraveling, not just the Obama administration unraveling …

Discussion: p m carpenter's commentary