All "Heil" Obama! (A stand-alone newsbite.)

Via McClatchy... Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark [assisted by] Tony Pugh, Curtis Tate and David Lightman... Barbara Anderson of The Fresno Bee and Christopher Cadelago of The Sacramento Bee [who] contributed to this report:

Facing growing outrage from Americans, President Barack Obama reversed course Thursday and offered to "let" insurance companies sell existing plans even if they don’t meet the minimum standards set by his new problem-fraught health care law.

* HE HAS NO CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON SUCH AN OFFER. (OR AT LEAST WHEN AMERICA STILL EXISTED AS A CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC NO CHIEF EXECUTIVE HAD SUCH POWER.)

 “We fumbled the roll-out on this health care law,” a contrite Obama said in an hour-long news conference Thursday at the White House. “We should have done a better job getting that right on day one – not on day 28 or on day 40.”

* FOLKS. IGNORE WHAT HE SAYS. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT HE DOES. IN ANY CASE... HE SHOULD RESIGN. HE'S A TOTAL INCOMPETENT.

The president flatly took responsibility for the slew of problems that have bedeviled his signature domestic achievement...

* NO HE DIDN'T. THAT'S MCCLATCHY EDITORIALIZING WITHIN THEIR NEWS PAGES. TAKING RESPONSIBILITY WOULD BE RESIGNING.

On Thursday, Obama announced that he’d allow – but not require – insurance companies to extend existing policies for a year as long as they notified customers that their benefits might be diminished with their current plans and that alternative policies might be available to them.

* THIS IS NOT THE EQUIVALENT OF PROSECUTORIAL OR POLICE OR EVEN REGULATORY "DISCRETION" WHILE KEEPING FAITH WITH THE LAW ITSELF. THIS IS UNILATERALLY DECLARING THE LAW TO BE NO LONGER THE LAW. THIS IS THE ACT OF A TYRANT... A DICTATOR.

Companies based their rates for 2014 on certain assumptions, including that consumers who bought plans after 2010 or had their prior plans substantially change wouldn’t be able to keep them. If more customers are allowed to keep their plans, companies probably will have to raise premiums and offer fewer choices.

“The point of the law was to provide health care insurance that was affordable and comprehensive and that protected people from catastrophic, out-of-pocket costs, so going back and allowing people to keep plans that are substandard seems not to fit the goal of the law,” said Sara Collins, the vice president for health care coverage and access at the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that promotes access to health care and has supported the Affordable Care Act.

* HOW'S THAT "POINT" WORKING OUT FOR YOU FOLKS...? MARY AND I PAY MORE THAN 20% OF OUR INCOME FOR HEALTH INSURANCE (ABSENT DENTAL!); IS THAT "AFFORDABLE" IN TERMS OF OBAMASPEAK...?

The White House says it will try to keep prices down through an existing program that could provide companies financial assistance.

* CORPORATE WELFARE...?!?! THAT'S THEIR ANSWER...?!?! FURTHER EXPAND DEFICITS...?!?! FURTHER EXPAND NATIONAL DEBT...?!?!

“I am highly skeptical that they can do this administratively,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio said at a news conference. “There is no way to fix this.”

* AND THIS IS "OUR" GUY. THIS IS THE REPUBLICAN SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE! HE'S "HIGHLY SKEPTICAL." NOT... "OUTRAGED." NOT "BOUND AND DETERMINED TO STOP THIS ASSAULT ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL SEPARATION OF POWERS." NOPE... JUST... er... "HIGHLY SKEPTICAL."

* I WISH JOHN BOEHNER WOULD DROP DEAD.

In spite of the anxieties of some Democrats in the Senate and House, the party’s House leadership circled the wagons Thursday, offering to help fix the law’s problems but making no apologies for them. “Our members were pleased with the president’s statement today,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

* THE BOEHNER REPUBLICANS DON'T CARE ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION; THE PELOSI/REID DEMOCRATS ARE ACTIVELY ANTI-CONSTITUTION. YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS. YOU NEED TO ACCEPT THIS. THIS IS NOT HYPERBOLE. I'M DEADLY SERIOUS.

Sherry Taylor, 63, of Tulare, Calif., said she welcomed Obama’s news after her Anthem Blue Cross policy was canceled in lieu of a slightly higher-priced one. “I’m going to keep my policy until Congress works out what they’re actually going to do,” said the hairdresser, who broke her pelvis in two places in a bicycle accident.

* CONGRESS ALREADY PASSED A LAW. THE LAW IS CALLED OBAMACARE. IT WAS CHAMPIONED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA. IT WAS "DEEMED" LAW BY PELOSI. IT PASSED ON ALMOST STRAIGHT PARTY LINE VOTE. THE ONLY WAY TO CHANGE IT IS TO CHANGE IT. OBAMA IS NOT KING. AMERICA IS NOT A MONARCHY. (OR IS IT...???)

Administration officials say they don’t know how many people would be affected by Obama’s decision...

* HIS "COMMAND." HIS ILLEGAL POWER GRAB. HIS VIOLATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL SEPARATION OF POWERS DOCTRINE. HIS ABSOLUTE CONTEMPT FOR THE RULE OF LAW.

...though they continue to insist that the problem is limited to people who buy their own insurance, about 11 million people. But a 2010 administration estimate indicates that as many as 69% of people with certain employer-based insurance plans – as many as 41 million – could have lost their policies.

Nicholas Bagley, a health policy expert and law assistant professor at the University of Michigan, said Obama’s fix raised more questions than answers, from the effect on premiums to the ability of insurance commissioners to swiftly approve previously canceled plans. And, he said, it remains to be seen whether the effort is legal.

“The administration hasn’t offered a legal justification, so it’s difficult to deliver a thumbs up or thumbs down,” he said. “There’s at least a big question mark whether the president can do this.”

* THERE IS NO "BIG QUESTION." THERE IS NO "QUESTION" PERIOD. IF PRESIDENTS HAD SUCH POWER THEY'D BE NO NEED - OR PURPOSE - IN HAVING A CONGRESS... IN HAVING SEPARATE STATES... IN HAVING A CONSTITUTION. RULE BY DECREE IS PROPERLY TERMS TYRANNY.