Many Democrats will have to face voters next year and explain Obamacare's problems. Trust frays between Obama, Dems

When Denis McDonough stepped onto House Democrats’ turf on Thursday, he was armed only with a PowerPoint presentation on fixing Obamacare’s website and talking points about the president’s proposal allowing people to keep their health care plans.

The White House chief of staff might have been better off revealing a U.S. map with the president’s plan for saving congressional Democrats’ seats — or just apologizing for letting so many Democrats walk out in public and repeat wildly inaccurate White House claims about the health of the enrollment website and Americans’ ability to keep their insurance plans if they liked them.


( IN 90 SECONDS: Obamacare puts Democrats’ credibility on the line)

President Barack Obama’s credibility may have taken a big hit with voters, but he’s also in serious danger of permanently losing the trust of Democrats in Congress. The Obamacare debacle has been bad enough that it’s tough for Democrats to take on faith that the president can fix the problems. His one-time allies are no longer sure that it’s wise to follow him into battle, leaving Obama and his law not only vulnerable to existing critics, but open to new attacks from his own party.

“I don’t know how he f—-ed this up so badly,” said one House Democrat who has been very supportive of Obama in the past.

The first test of unity: how many Democrats vote for a bill Friday penned by Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton. The legislation would allow people to keep their canceled insurance plans through 2014.

( Also on POLITICO: Obama to Democrats: Stay with me)

A familiar refrain from Democratic sources : Obama’s if-you-like-it-you-can-keep-it promise on insurance policies is his “Read my lips, no new taxes” moment — a reference to the broken promise that came to damage President George H.W. Bush’s credibility with his fellow Republicans.

For five years, congressional Democrats have often sprung to his defense — or remained quiet — when Obama’s been in trouble, even though many have long complained that he and his team have ignored their interests and concerns on a wide variety of legislative and personal matters. Now, Democratic sources say, Obama can expect that lawmakers will be quicker to criticize him — and distance themselves from his policies — than they have in the past. With Obama now free of the demands of running for reelection, the gloves are off, they say.

Congressional Democrats are on the line in 2014. Many of them voted for Obamacare, defended it in 2010 and will have to stand in front of voters next year and explain the problems.

( Also on POLITICO: Pelosi: House Democrats have own Obamacare plan)

Rep. Nick Rahall, a veteran West Virginia Democrat, said the president will have the chance to restore his credibility on Capitol Hill.

“It’s been damaged, no question about it. But it can be repaired,” Rahall told POLITICO. “There’s just been some unforseen problems here or unintended consequences that I think have certainly led to a misrepresentation about what was said during the campaign and what many people — myself included — believed at the time.”

McDonough, speaking privately to Democrats in a closed session Thursday afternoon, said the president’s hands were tied, to an extent, in trying to move the policy to fit his promise.

( WATCH: 6 major players in HealthCare.gov debacle)

“We do not have a deal where everyone who has received a cancellation notice that they can re-buy. We can’t mandate that,” he said , according to sources present. But, he argued, the new policy shifts the burden for cancellations to state insurance commissioners and insurance companies — an important political distinction. If a tea party Republican contends that someone lost his or her insurance because of the law, McDonough said “that is absolutely untrue.”

At one point, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) asked why the White House isn’t doing more to blame insurers for policy cancellation notices.

McDonough replied that there are good actors and bad actors in the insurance industry.

“I think it is dangerous to paint with a broad brush,” he said.

Before he got to the meat of his presentation, McDonough sought to soften the room by joking about the rough reception White House adviser David Simas got from House Democrats earlier in the week.

“Simas came back pretty bruised,” he said. “[Let’s] see if I can do any better.”

The bruises were a little lighter. And he wore the exhaustion of someone who had just been beaten up by the Senate Democratic Caucus throughout the meeting, according to one source who was present.

Even some Democrats who have been big supporters of the Affordable Care Act told McDonough that Obama’s plan for an administration fix to address health plan cancellations isn’t enough for them. They need a bill to get behind. Translation: In addition to skepticism about the policy, it’s not good politics for them to just fall in line behind Obama on the fix.

House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other party leaders discussed options for a bill with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius just before McDonough arrived to address the full caucus. She is trying to help the White House stem a tide of House Democrats who are leaning toward voting for a GOP bill, due on the House floor Friday, that would address the cancellation issue in much broader fashion than Obama would like.

“We don’t have a policy problem,” Pelosi told her Democrats in the private meeting, a defense of the law written by Congress. “We have a website problem.”

Pelosi’s proposal would allow enrollment in the exchanges for a year rather than just through March 31 and add consumer protections that would give state insurance commissioners authority over price increases, according to a source familiar with the plan. But the best Democrats can hope for is to offer it as a procedural motion to recommit the Republican bill that will certainly be defeated in the GOP-controlled House.

No one expects Obama to lose the majority of Democrats on the GOP bill Friday, but even a few dozen defections would be a telling indication that lawmakers are no longer as worried about hurting him as they once were.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) was one of several lawmakers who said they plan to vote for the GOP bill if there’s not a better alternative by Friday.

Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) told McDonough he was happy that the president was trying to address the problems but that the episode shook his faith in the administration’s ability to foresee and address future issues. In particular, Capuano said, members of his staff have had just as much trouble signing up for the new exchanges as Americans across the country. He told McDonough the president should delay the mandate that individuals buy insurance or pay a penalty, which is the vital mechanism for constraining prices for people who buy coverage through the exchanges.

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) even chided the White House for failing to set up a way for consumers to sign up for insurance through smartphone apps.

But plenty of Democrats are willing to stand with Obama through the current mess, even if they’re willing to dish out a little criticism.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), who passionately defended the law in the closed-door meeting Thursday, acknowledged in an interview that the White House was probably a “little too overconfident and the rhetoric, perhaps, got a little hyperbolic in terms of how perfect this is.” But he also acknowledged it is more difficult for House Democrats to sign onto the White House’s promises right now, particularly the assurances that the website will be fixed by the end of the month.

“We’re not going to all get behind a Nov. 30 date, which is probably not going to be realized, that’s all, but were still supportive of the president, we’re still supportive of the Affordable Care Act, and we want to be constructive. We don’t want to destroy it, we want to fix it, and it does need to be fixed,” Moran said. “I think looking back the White House would agree even more vigorously than we do that perhaps they shouldn’t have made as many promises with such short deadlines.”

This article tagged under: Barack Obama

Democrats

Obamacare