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 Obama used a speech at the White House to address criticisms of
the law and accuse his Republican opponents of attempting to gain
politically from the problems surrounding his central domestic
policy achievement.
Obama, whose job approval ratings have sunk as problems mounted
around the health care system's website, said repairs to the website
have now made it work well for the vast majority of users and that
"we're are going to keep on working to fix whatever problems come
up."
"Do not let the initial problems with the website discourage you
because it's working better now," Obama told an audience of
supporters of the law. "And it's going to keep on working better
over time."
Obama is struggling to contain the political damage from the
troubled rollout of the new health law. He needs to win back support
for the law's attributes that has been lost in the weeks since the
website went live on October 1.
In his speech, he said Republican lawmakers are "rooting for this
law to fail" and have offered no alternative to the law other than
repealing it, which he rejected as a possibility.
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His message to them, he said, is "we're not going back."
"If you've got good ideas, bring them to me, let's go," he said.
"But we're not repealing it as long as I'm president."
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton and Mark Felsenthal;
editing by Bill Trott)
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