Comcast today said it supports President Obama's entire network neutrality proposal—except for that part about reclassifying broadband as a utility.

"What is remarkable is that if you compare the President’s articulation of his vision for net neutrality as set forth in the White House talking points released yesterday afternoon, we are on the record as agreeing with every point," Comcast Executive VP David Cohen wrote in a blog post titled, "Surprise! We agree with the president’s principles on net neutrality." The areas of agreement between Comcast and Obama are as follows, he wrote:

Free and open Internet. We agree—and that is our practice.

No blocking. We agree—and that is our practice.

No throttling. We agree—and that is our practice.

Increased transparency. We agree—and that is our practice.

No paid prioritization. We agree—and that is our practice.

Comcast has to follow net neutrality rules until 2018 because of conditions imposed on its purchase of NBCUniversal. Net neutrality rules that apply to all ISPs would put Comcast and its competitors on a level playing field in that regard. But Obama and Comcast disagree on how to implement them. Obama said that the Federal Communications Commission needs to reclassify consumer broadband service as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act in order to impose these rules.

Comcast says the rules can be issued under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, which requires the FCC to encourage the deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans.

"This is not game playing or sophistry on our part. We believe in having strong and enforceable Open Internet rules. We just believe that the courts have laid out a clear legal path to accomplishing that result under Section 706 which will enable the country to avoid the adverse investment and innovation impacts of Title II," Cohen wrote. "Being for net neutrality and against Title II is completely consistent. People can be for net neutrality and against Title II—that simply represents agreement on the why, but not the how."

That isn't exactly how the courts saw it when Verizon sued over the FCC's previous net neutrality rules, though. A federal appeals court opinion agreed that Section 706 lets the FCC "promulgate rules governing broadband providers’ treatment of Internet traffic." But there's only so far the FCC can go without reclassifying broadband as a Title II or "common carrier" service. The court struck down the FCC's prohibitions on blocking and discrimination by Internet service providers because they amount to utility or common carrier rules being imposed upon companies that haven't been classified as common carriers.

To impose such rules, the FCC has to either use Title II or prove that the rules are not common carrier obligations. In the Verizon case, the FCC "failed to establish that the anti-discrimination and anti-blocking rules do not impose per se common carrier obligations," the court said.

So while Comcast argues that Section 706 provides the FCC all the authority it needs, the court decision gives the FCC and Obama reason to believe that Title II is what's really necessary.

Although Obama said the FCC should avoid using the most strict Title II rules on broadband, such as rate regulation, Comcast fears the possibility of being treated as a utility.

"In 2013, the top four ISPs invested a combined $46 billion in the U.S. economy—with Comcast investing $6.6 billion in infrastructure in America, up from $5.7 billion in 2012," Cohen wrote. "This investment has been made possible through the sound application of light touch regulation and it is simply indisputable that Title II would put these significant investments in jeopardy and diminish innovation and job creation as a direct result."

Things were going Comcast's way earlier this year when the FCC unveiled a tentative net neutrality plan that relied upon Section 706, requiring minimum levels of service but allowing Internet service providers to charge websites for faster access to consumers. Comcast supported that plan, but it was heavily criticized by consumer advocates. A final decision isn't expected until next year, but Obama's public support of reclassification will put increased pressure on FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to scrap Section 706 and use Title II instead.