In an interview which the BBC dubs an “honest take” on the President’s standing in Washington, former White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the damage done to the President by Obamacare is “hard to overestimate.”
The interview, published Monday, is part of a story about the President’s 2014 agenda which kicks off tonight with the State of the Union. Reporter Katty Kay introduces Gibbs by saying, “Inside the White House they remain of course deliberately optimistic about the President’s agenda, but sometimes you get a more honest take from someone who has left the administration.”
Gibbs offers Kay his assessment of where Obama stands, saying “I think it’s hard to overestimate the real damage that was inflicted for most of last year on health care.” “This was entirely in the control of the White House and yet still so badly bungled,” Gibbs adds.
Gallup’s daily tracking poll of presidential job approvals shows that President Obama’s popularity hit a peak after his reelection in 2012 but was on a mostly steady decline during 2013. That decline reached historic lows in November when the rollout of Obamacare was deemed a disaster after it launched October 1st. The President’s polling has improved slightly since then but is still in the low 40s.
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