White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Sunday on ABC that he couldn't "go back in time" on President Obama's false promise that all Americans who liked their current health coverage would keep it under Obamacare.
Pfeiffer, after going into a convoluted statement of percentages and repeating the White House talking point that plans being dumped were "cut-rate" coverages that didn't cover hospital visits and "most of them" would get better plans under Obamacare, was pressed further by This Week host George Stephanopoulos.
He brought up the Wall Street Journal article reporting that top Obama aides debated whether the president should keep making a promise that clearly could not be kept. Pfeiffer said he did not recall those discussions before trying again to cover for Obama:
GEORGE STEPHANPOULOS: Let's assume it's true. It still doesn't meet the literal promise the president made right there, and your policymakers knew that then. Why didn't the president say during the campaign what he said this week, for the vast majority of people, if you like your health care plan, you can keep it.
DAN PFEIFFER: I can't go back on time on this. Like I said, I don't recall this debate the Wall Street Journal talks about in any way, shape or form.
STEPHANOPOULOS: This never came up inside?
PFEIFFER: Not that I remember. But here's the point. If you had a plan before the Affordable Care Act passed that hasn't been changed or canceled, you can keep it. I understand that there's controversy and confusion. It's why the president went out and addressed it in Boston this week.