Boehner’s office quickly tried to walk back his comments. Boehner: Obamacare is law of land

House Speaker John Boehner made it official Thursday: Obamacare isn’t going anywhere.

In an interview with ABC News, Boehner seemed to suggest the election ended any efforts to wipe out the whole law. When “World News” anchor Diane Sawyer asked if there would be any more votes to repeal the law, Boehner said “the election changes that” and “Obamacare is the law of the land.”


He said, however, that some parts of the law should still be on the table when lawmakers start negotiating a deficit deal.

Boehner’s office quickly tried to walk back his comments within minutes after ABC News posted a story on the interview.

“While Obamacare is the law of the land, it is costing us jobs and threatening our health care. Speaker Boehner and House Republicans remain committed to repealing the law, and he said in the interview it would be on the table,” Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said in a statement.

Boehner pushed back on Twitter, too: "ObamaCare is the law of the land, but it is raising costs and hurting #smallbiz. Our goal remains #fullrepeal.”

Boehner’s office also released a transcript of that part of the interview, in which Boehner says: “I think there are parts of the healthcare law that are gonna be very difficult to implement. And very expensive. And [at] the time when we're tryin' to find a way to create a path toward a balanced budget everything has to be on the table.”

He adds: “There certainly may be parts of it that we believe need to be changed. We may do that. No decisions at this point.”

In a way, Boehner was just acknowledging the obvious: With President Barack Obama back in the White House for another four years, and the Senate still firmly in Democratic hands, a full repeal of the health care law is out of the question. Targeted repeal of unpopular parts of the law — or efforts to scale back some parts — might be a different story.

But by declaring that “Obamacare is the law of the land,” Boehner may have gone further to acknowledge a painful truth than many Republicans really would have liked.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 6:19 p.m. on November 8, 2012.