CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Affordable Care Act and Iran

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Paul.

So what does the President need to do to get his approval ratings back up? I'm joined now by Representative Gregory Meeks, he's a Democratic -- a Democrat, rather, from New York; and by Representative Marsha Blackburn, she is a Republican from Tennessee. Thanks to both of you for joining us.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

WHITFIELD: So Representative Meeks, let me begin with you. You know, the President, is he doing enough to deal with the health care Web site? We know that the start-up was a real debacle. There is a deadline looming. Is this in large part why we see his approval ratings dipping?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: Well, it's clear that as the President has indicated we've had a bad rollout. And the best thing for the President to do is to just stay focused, because we know that the marketplace is going to open up and once it does, individuals will then see and be able to look at what the Affordable Care Act really is.

And then, the conversation will go back, also, to what the Affordable Care Act is presenting to individuals, even now. Those who no longer can be locked out because of pre-existing disease and those young people who under 26 can stay on their parents' health care, those who can now have preventive medicine that they never -- preventive care that they've never had before. So you know, it was a rocky rollout. Mistakes were made. The President has acknowledged that. And the thing that you do and the last thing that was indicated was polls go up, polls go down, polls go up, there's plenty of time. When American people start to get the health care that they need and realize for the first time that there's access to affordable health care like never before, then the polls will go back up.

So there's no need in panicking here.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

WHITFIELD: There have been a lot of historians that made comparisons between Obama and JFK. They're both youthful, both very affable, likable, you know beautiful wives, kids in the White House. Representative Meeks, in what way do you see the legacy of President Obama either shaping up or has it already shaped up, or do you still see that there is time for him to cement his legacy?

MEEKS: Well, I think the camera of history is going to record President Obama in a very good light. When you think about the tough times of JFK dealing with the Cuban missile crises, and the beginning of the Cold War, with Russia, and what was taking place and the racial tensions that were in our nation at that particular time, and President Kennedy was just starting to step up to the plate just a few months before his unfortunate assassination, talking about race relations.

He stood up to the big challenges even though they may not have been popular at the time. So he took some credibility hits with those that were anti-civil rights at the time.

President Obama has done the same thing. When you think about the financial crisis that he's had to get us through as a country, and we're starting to get back on the right feet -- on the right footing. When you think about the, you know, the overall economy, you think about Syria and some of the wars that he inherited, and Afghanistan, Iraq, and how he's guided us out of that.

History is going to record him in a -- in a good light. And overall, when this is done, history is going to show that he is the President that made affordable care, good health care, good for all Americans, similarly as to a place back then when we finally passed Medicaid and Medicare. So I think history's going to serve him well.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

WHITFIELD: Well, let me get Congressman Meeks to respond to that. Is what she's saying the case -- that it takes too much time; that no one wants to do the work? Or is there something more to it? We heard the President's words, what his point of view on this was. But how do you respond to what she said?

MEEKS: Look, it's obvious that the -- what the Republicans were doing, as Senator McConnell had said from day one when the President was inaugurated, that he's trying to block, and he will have the senate minority block anything and everything that the President does. It is clear, in the history of our nation, over 230-some-odd years, when a filibuster had been utilized to block over -- almost half of that has been done in five and a half year, just with President Obama which means that they're not blocking his individuals because they're not qualified or because they're not good folks. They're blocking them because they don't want the President to get his people in place.

You know, votes and elections have consequences. The American people elected President Obama the President of the United States by overwhelming majority.

WHITFIELD: How do you see the road ahead now? Do you think that this nuclear option will now open the way that the next three years of getting business done on Capitol Hill, at least in the Senate, as it pertains to these nominees will be different?

MEEKS: Well, I think they will still be -- there will be hearings, there will be questions of those who are nominated, they will be looking at the individuals' qualifications, all of those things will still take place, except there will be votes now that would be based upon the merits of the individual, and not based upon the politics of one party just trying to block the President's appointees.

WHITFIELD: Representative Gregory Meeks, Representative Marcia Blackburn, thanks so much to both of you. Appreciate it -

MEEKS: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source