Former Obama administration auto economics adviser Steve Rattner spoke to the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday about Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber’s controversial comments about the health care law’s “lack of transparency” and the “stupidity of the American voter.”
Though President Obama and members of his administration have attempted to distance themselves from Gruber in recent days, Rattner admitted that the MIT professor was “an important figure in helping to put Obamacare together,” a task for which Gruber earned about $400,000.
“I think that if you go back and look at the Washington Post or The New York Times or anything from that period, you will find Jonathan Gruber’s name all over it as both someone who is a leading expert on health care quoted by everybody [and] as someone who the White House was using,” said Rattner.
“I don’t think we knew the dollar numbers that he was paid at the time, but he was certainly … viewed as an important figure in helping to put Obamacare together,” the former Obama adviser added.
Rattner than alleged that Gruber’s recently revealed comments — coupled with the administration’s handling of them — have created a “problem” for the White House.
Of course, Rattner wasn’t the only one on “Morning Joe” criticizing the White House and Obama in particular for the Gruber mess.
Joe Scarborough said that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and President Obama are “embarrassing themselves” by acting like they don’t know who Jonathan Gruber is despite mentioning him by name in the past.
“I don’t know who tells him it makes him look cool,” Scarborough said of Obama’s response Sunday to questions about the Gruber videos. “It doesn’t. It really makes him look out of touch. But, how many times have we heard Barack Obama say, ‘Oh, I just heard about this IRS scandal,’ or, ‘Oh, I was just told about this VA scandal.'”
Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle agreed with Scarborough that the Obama administration should acknowledge Gruber’s past accomplishments with Obamacare but then denounce him for his insults to the American people.
But, instead, Obama has dismissed Gruber as “an adviser who was never on our staff.”
“It’s almost like the White House thinks people are as stupid as Jonathan Gruber thinks they are,” concluded Scarborough.
