Obama defends embattled healthcare program and stands firm on shutdown

President uses wide-ranging interview to demand reopening of government and discuss progress on Iran and Afghanistan

President Barack Obama has said frustrated Americans "definitely shouldn't give up" on the problem-plagued healthcare program which is at the heart of his dispute with Republicans over ending the federal government shutdown.

In a wide-ranging interview published on Saturday, the president said he would be willing to negotiate with Republicans on healthcare, deficit reduction and spending – but only if House Speaker John Boehner held votes to reopen the government and increase the nation's borrowing limit. He also spoke critically of first-term Republican senators, such as Ted Cruz of Texas, who have been leading efforts to shut the government if Republicans can't extract concessions from the White House.

Obama, who successfully ran for president as a first-term senator, said that when he was in the Senate, he "didn't go around courting the media. And I certainly didn't go around trying to shut down the government".

Obama also discussed diplomatic engagement with Iran, speaking positively of President Hassan Rouhani's recent visit to the United Nations in New York, and the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

On the latest stage of his signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare, the president said public interest had far exceeded the government's expectations, causing technological glitches that thwarted millions of Americans when trying to use government-run healthcare websites. "Folks are working around the clock and have been systematically reducing the wait times," he said.


The president spoke to the Associated Press on Friday, four days into a partial shutdown of the federal government that has forced 800,000 people off the job, closed national parks and curbed many government services. Obama reiterated his opposition to negotiating with House Republicans to end the shutdown or raise the nation's debt ceiling.

"There are enough votes in the House of Representatives to make sure that the government reopens today," he said. "And I'm pretty willing to bet that there are enough votes in the House of Representatives right now to make sure that the United States doesn't end up being a deadbeat."

Some House Republicans are seeking healthcare concessions from Obama in exchange for approving government financing and want more spending cuts before raising the debt ceiling. The Treasury says the nation will hit its borrowing limit around 17 October. Obama didn't specifically rule out taking action on his own if Congress fails to increase the debt ceiling, but said he doesn't expect to get to that point.

Obama also disclosed that US intelligence agencies believe Iran continues to be a year or more away from having the capability to make a nuclear weapon. That assessment is at odds with Israel, which contends Tehran is on a faster course toward a bomb. Obama also expressed optimism about the blossoming diplomacy between his administration and Iran's new president, but said the US would not accept a "bad deal" on the Islamic republic's nuclear program.

Amidst the flurry of domestic issues consuming his second term, Obama has launched a diplomatic outreach to Iran, aimed at resolving the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program. Last week, he spoke by phone with President Hassan Rouhani, marking the first direct exchange between US and Iranian leaders in more than 30 years.


But Obama said Rouhani is not Iran's only "decision-maker. He's not even the ultimate decision-maker," a reference to the control wielded by Iran's supreme leader, Ayotollah Ali Khamenei, who on Saturday cast doubt on the wisdom of the call. Given the supreme leader's broad influence, some countries, most notably Israel, have questioned whether Rouhani actually represents real change in Iran or just new packaging of old policies.

Obama also put distance between US and Israeli assessments of when Iran might have the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. Israeli officials have said Iran is months away from being able to build a bomb, while Obama said Tehran was a year or more away. The president used the same timetable in March, before traveling to Israel. The US and Israel contend that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at building a bomb, while Tehran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes.

On the 12-year war in Afghanistan, Obama said he would consider keeping some American forces on the ground after the conflict formally ends next year, but acknowledged that doing so would require an agreement from the Afghan government. He suggested that if no agreement could be reached, he would be comfortable with a full pullout of US troops.

"If in fact we can get an agreement that makes sure that US troops are protected, makes sure that we can operate in a way that is good for our national security, then I'll certainly consider that," he said. "If we can't, we will continue to make sure that all the gains we've made in going after al-Qaida we accomplish, even if we don't have any US military on Afghan soil."

All US forces left Iraq at the end of 2011, after no deal could be reached to keep some there longer.