Will Obama's 2nd term be like George W. Bush's?

'We fumbled the rollout' on healthcare

US President Barack Obama bows to political pressure and announces a plan to let insurers renew, for one year, the health plans for Americans whose policies would be cancelled due to Obamacare.

Washington: Barack Obama won the presidency by exploiting a political environment that devoured George W. Bush in a second term plagued by sinking credibility, failed legislative battles, fractured world relations and revolts inside his own party.

Mr Obama is now threatened by a similar toxic mix. The disastrous rollout of his health care law not only threatens the rest of his agenda but has also raised questions about his competence in the same way that the Mr Bush administration's botched response to Hurricane Katrina undermined any semblance of Republican efficiency.

But unlike Mr Bush, who faced confrontational but occasionally cooperative Democrats, Mr Obama has a Republican opposition that has refused to open the door to any legislative fixes to his health care law and has blocked him at virtually every other turn.

US President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks on the Affordable Care Act in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Photo: AFP

A contrite-sounding Mr Obama repeatedly blamed himself on Thursday for the failed health care rollout, which he acknowledged had thrust difficult burdens on his political allies and had deeply undermined Americans' trust in him.

"It's legitimate for them to expect me to have to win back some credibility on this health care law in particular and on a whole range of these issues in general," Mr Obama said.

But earning back the confidence of Americans, as he pledged to do, will require Mr Obama to right more than just the botched health care program.

At home, his Immigration overhaul is headed for indefinite delay, even as new budget and debt fights loom.

And abroad, NSA spying revelations have dragged down the country's standing, even as negotiations over Iran's nuclear arsenal have set off bipartisan criticism.

And for the first time in his presidency, surveys suggest that his reserve of goodwill among the public is running dry.

Two polls in recent weeks have reported that a majority of Americans no longer trust the president or believe that he is being honest with them.

"When you start losing the trust and confidence, not only of Congress, but the American people, that makes it even more difficult," said Senator Joe Manchin,a Democrat from West Virginia. "You can work yourself out. But you have to be sincere, and you have to be honest."

The difficulties have put Mr Obama on his heels at exactly the moment he might have seized political advantage in Washington.

If not for the health care disaster, the two-week shutdown of the government last month would have been an opportunity for Mr Obama to sharpen the contrast with Republicans.

This week, House Speaker John A. Boehner, a Republican, added another roadblock to an immigration overhaul, but all of the attention was on the problems with Mr Obama's health care law.

"We get that it is a big deal, for him, for the law, for the Democrats who voted for him," said Jennifer Palmieri, the White House communications director. "We are taking it deathly seriously."

But Mr Obama's top aides also reject the comparison to the latter half of Mr Bush's second term. They say Americans lost confidence in Mr Bush because of a botched disaster recovery and a long and deadly war, while Mr Obama is struggling to extend health care to millions of people who do not have it.

"We've had a rough-and-tumble fall," Ms Palmieri said.

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