MSNBC’s Todd: Obama Team ‘Created Their Own PR Problem’ With ObamaCare

TODD: “I think they get it, but I don't get the sense that they're fully in an adjustment mode. I feel like they're in a bunker mentality right now, that they're really simply just hunkering down. Ultimately, I think they think that their entire second term is gonna be judged on the implementation of health care, so they have this, so, maybe it's right that they have a bunker mentally that says all hands on deck, whatever it takes to fix this website, but I want to pick up on something that Richard just said because I thought he put it so much more elegantly than I have been trying to do, which is this myth making issue.”
SCARBOROUGH: “It’s the accent, Chuck—“
TODD: “—Well the accent always helps, no doubt. But he called it myth making. I have been trying to refer to it as simply they are always afraid to project any image other than strength and it's almost they're afraid to admit something might not work or they're afraid to admit that something may not meet an expectation. So they end up finding themselves overpromising or they end up finding themselves saying things like ‘We are still learning more, we just read about it in news reports.’ They're so afraid of being caught as if they, you know, maybe that somebody in the chain of command didn't tell the president something or they're so afraid to admit that maybe the website wasn't going to launch perfectly on day one or to admit that some people's individual health care policies weren't going to be available. We're going to change and it's like they were so worried about the image and the spin, that they've, you know, ended up creating their own PR problem. I mean, this problem they're dealing with right now is of their own making. They easily could have just come out here and said, ‘This is going to be very difficult. This is going to be very complicated. For most Americans, you’re not gonna notice. But for the 20 percent of Americans that have had cruddy health care coverage for years, this transition is going to seem scary to you. We're going to do everything we can to make it less scary.”
SCARBOROUGH: “That’s great. That would’ve been great—“
TODD: “—Say something like that. And you know what? You buy time and [untelligible] the public’s patience. And it’s more honest.”