Obama, on Monday, to the AMA:
I'll be honest. There are countries where a single-payer system may be working.
He forgot to brief Robert Gibbs on which ones. When asked at the press conference today which countries Obama was referring to, Gibbs stumbled:
"I don't know exactly the countries. I think you can if you talk to people in the countries that have those systems, they'd think their health care is pretty good."
After being pushed to give specific countries, Gibbs repeated the reporters suggestions of Canada and Britain, adding "maybe France."
He then went on to undercut the president's entire rationale for major health care overhaul:
"I don't know the exact countries. But i don't think the President is going way out on a limb to say that people in other countries have health care system that they like, just as Americans like the health care system that they have."
Obama, May 28: "I think the status quo is unacceptable."
Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, this week: "Everybody recognizes the status quo is the enemy. It's unacceptable, unsustainable."
Nancy-Ann Deparle, head of the Office of Health Care Reform, March: "There were no defenders of the status quo."
There are no defenders of the status quo. Everyone agrees we have a very serious, unsustainable problem. Except for the spokesman for the president, who says "Americans like the health care system they have."
That's a dangerous comment to make the same week Americans, many of whom may indeed like their health care system despite its faults, are hit with the "eye-popping" pricetag for an Obama-approved overhaul that may or may not actually fix the problems. It's almost as if Gibbs has been taking advice on how best to sabotage the president's message from Joe Biden himself.
