http://washingtonexaminer.com/james-carville-blame-obama-not-republicans/article/2539560James Carville: Blame Obama, not Republicans
By PAUL BEDARD | NOVEMBER 21, 2013 AT 10:20 AM
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville said the president is to blame for the blundered Obamacare debut, not Republicans.
Interviewed by Fox Business Network today, Carville said, “I think the president has himself to blame as much as anybody. I don't think he was done in, in this instance by the Republicans, or done in by the media, done in by anything.”
He also defended former boss Bill Clinton’s criticism of Obama over the president’s broken promise about Americans keeping their health insurance plans under Obamacare, but said the former president should have used kinder language.
Fox offered these quotes from Carville:
On whether the Affordable Care Act could be all worked out by next year:
“In places where it's up and running, i.e., Massachusetts and some of these other places, you know, California, Connecticut, Kentucky, it is actually doing fine. And, you know, things - they’re going to get better. The website is starting to get better and it will get better down the road but the rollout of this has been awful, and it didn't have to be that way at all. And I think the president has himself to blame as much as anybody. I don't think he was done in, in this instance by the Republicans, or done in by the media, done in by anything. It was just a massive mess-up that’s cost him and cost the Democratic party some grief. Maybe temporarily I hope but it’s certainly caused some grief out there.”
On former President Bill Clinton’s comments that President Obama should honor his promise that people who like their health insurance can keep it:
“Well, the truth of the matter is, it could be said that he could have -- he could have said it a lot more elegantly than he did. And you know, I look at these polls, and I got to tell you, I think it is all self-inflicted. I think this rollout, which I think they got to get right, was a disaster, it was a joke. And there was a way to talk about, you know, how many people would get to keep their health insurance in a way that wasn't causing this much trouble. I'm one of the few people who have believed, and continue to believe, that in the end this thing will work pretty good.”
