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 Host Bill O'Reilly asked Obama why he did not fire his health and
human services chief over the botched rollout of the healthcare law
last year, whether there was "widespread corruption" at the Internal
Revenue Service, and whether the White House had tried to play down
the significance of a 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi,
Libya.
Obama said "some boneheaded decisions" were to blame for extra
scrutiny the IRS had given to conservative Tea Party groups seeking
tax-exempt status, and that the issue had been cleared up during
"multiple hearings" in Congress.
"These kinds of things keep on surfacing in part because you and
your TV station will promote them," Obama told O'Reilly.
O'Reilly, who hosts a popular program on the most-watched U.S. cable
news network, told Obama that many people believed his campaign team
sought to downplay the cause of insurgent attacks in Benghazi, which
killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher
Stevens.
"They believe it because folks like you are telling them that,"
Obama said, rejecting the allegation, which became a heated issue in
the last stages of the 2012 presidential election.
O'Reilly pressed Obama to explain why he did not fire Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius after the website used to
enroll people in the new healthcare program known as Obamacare,
failed to work during its launch last October.
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"My main priority right now is making sure that it delivers for the
American people," Obama said, telling O'Reilly that enrollment in
health insurance was "about a month behind" projections because of
the early problems.
"I promise you that we hold everybody up and down the line
accountable," Obama said.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; editing by Peter Cooney)
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