NBC’s Gregory Hammers Axelrod: Why Didn’t You Stop Obama from Making Insurance Pledge?

Meet the Press host David Gregory went after former Obama advisor David Axelrod Sunday morning, asking why he didn’t stop President Barack Obama from making the “if you like your health care you can keep it” pledge, as he was a crucial White House figure at the time.

“You were in the White House,” Gregory said. “You were advising the president on the kinds of things he should say. Why did not you, or somebody else, say, ‘Mr. President, don’t say no matter what you’re going to keep your health care.’ That’s why you’re there!”

“Hindsight is 20/20,” Axelrod replied. “The vast majority of Americans, that statement will hold true for. For this small group of Americans, it hasn’t. the calamitous thing here is that the website wasn’t up. Because many of those people who have to transition are going to get better insurance for less money, but they just can’t tell that now.”

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Fellow guest Bob Woodward noted that early in the Obama administration the president admitted he’d “screwed up” on something, and that such a performance could be repeated now. “Why not just be straightforward?” Woodward asked.

“I don’t think there’s any shame in saying, ‘We grandfathered a lot of policies, we didn’t anticipate this one glitch,'” Axelrod said.

Watch the full clip below, via NBC News:

[Image via screengrab]

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