Im paul gigot. As more obama care problems plague the white house, president obama now apologizes that americans are losing their Health Care Coverage when he originally promised they would be able to keep it, period. Now even democrats are admitting that healthcare. Gov should be shut down until its fixed and made that proposal to Kathleen Sebelius this week. Youve indicated that delays health care for a lot of people. And i appreciate that, but if you want more time, why not just get it done right . And this week, 16 Democratic Senators met with the president at the white house to express their concerns about the health care glitches. 12 of those senators voted for the Affordable Care act in 2010 and face reelection next year. Joining the panel this week, wall street journal columnist, dan lettinger. Editorial board member joe rego and washington columnist kim straso. This is not a president who apologizes for much. Recently, he just said were going to grind it out. I think thats a direct quote. Were going to grind it out on obama care. Why the switch on the apology . I think after what are hes been through with obama care the last two weeks and that meeting with the 15 senators, he had to stop the political bleeding on this problem. He had to do something. So hes apologized to the american people. Problems remain that are going to be very difficult to reverse. First of all do you think that apologys sincere . Is this just a tactical shift to try to say i feel your pain . I think its a tactical shift. I feel your pain. This is president as you just said who said you can keep your policy or your doctors, period. That statement was false period, okay. He cant reel that back no matter how much they try to rewrite it. Speaking of rewriting, these 15 senators i think are now themselves literally only discovering what was in the law. They knew the broad outlines but they didnt understand the law to work was going to require some people lose their policy or lose their doctors so that the costs saved there could be transferred over to the laws other provisions. I think if they understood that, they, themselves might not have voted for it. They cant reel that back. That is the law as the white house says over and over. Kim, how much panic is there, if thats not too strong a word, among Senate Democrats . Because there was a lot of hand holding. The president in the white house saying, dont worry, were going to get this fixed by the end of november. This is temporary. This will all be over. Just a shortterm problem. Are they do they believe them . Paul, you can smell the fear rising up off the pavement down here in washington. Theres a lot of nervousness. That being said, theres a little bit of a double begame going on here. You have growing numbers of senate democrat, House Democrats jumping on board with legislation to delay or change or make sure that people can keep their health insurance. On the other hand, they have been told by the white house that this website is going to be fixed by the end of november. Right. So i think some of them are stringing this out. Theyre hoping it does get fixed before they, in fact, have to pull the pin on any of that legislation. Now, if it doesnt get fixed by then, theyre going to be in a much tougher spot. But the groundwork is being laid to actually make some big moves here. Thats the thing, i mean, i dont see them, any of these democrats, proposal real substantive changes to the bill. Or even for that matter a substantive delay in the bill. These are token gestures. Well, well just wait for six weeks before the Enrollment Period or something. Or well delay the penalty for a few weeks. None of that addresses the real heart of the legislation. Thats the problem. No, thats right. What youre going to see, next week, for instance, is House Republicans are going to try to actually put them on the spot, exert some pressure. So, for instance, House Republicans are going to have a vote on legislation guaranteeing people can keep their existing Health Coverage for another year if they want it. Well see how many House Democrats vote for that. If that vote is big enough. There could be pressure on the senate to do that as well. I would say there will be 20, 30, maybe more House Democrats who will vote for that as political cover. I want to ask joe about a sentence the president said on his policy statement. He said, obviously, we didnt do a good enough job in terns of how we drafted the law, crafted the law, unquote. Wait a minute. They knew exactly what they were doing when they crafted the law. Am i wrong . No, actually, hes sorry theyre mad theyre losing their policies. Im sorry you feel that way. If i offended you at all, i apologize. This bill is designed to destroy those policies. Thats why theyre disappearing. This is what they wanted to do all along. They decided those policies were inferior. Even if people preferred them and they wanted to get rid of them and substitute in new policies that are government approved. They wanted to destroy the individual Insurance Market as it currently exists, fade away. That is to drive everybody in the exchanges. That was the point of all this. We had a cancer patient this week, edie, write in our paper in california, that she may be in danger of losing her oncologist. Right, just very limited choices in the exchanges narrow networks. So she wrote, for example, that in the exchange policy, she couldnt go to m. D. Anderson. Houston Cancer Center. Renowned Cancer Center in texas. So it really just disrupted her care for a stage 4 cancer patient. And were seeing that nationwide, state to state, not just california. Dan, briefly, i think the democrats, Senate Democrats have to break here before the president will even consider any substantive changes. You agree with that . Yeah, i think so. Hes going to have to be under tremendous pressure. Really, paul, as joe is suggesting, this law is structured in a way thats going to make it very difficult to revise or break apart at this stage. Yeah, it will either be a delay, i think, or nothing much is going to happen. When we come back, new jersey votes for Chris Christie again. What can the Republican Party learn from his reelection . Hi, im terry and i have diabetic nerve pain. I worked a patrol unit for 17 years in the city of baltimore. When i first started experiencing the pain, its, its hard to describe because you have a numbness. But yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot. It was progressively getting worse, and at that point i knew i had to do something. When i went back to my healthcare professional. 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To hear more of terrys story, visit lyrica. Com. Its specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. No longer in uniform,. But still serving. On the job and in our communities. Whose dedication and commitment to excellence continues. In every mission, whatever it may be. Affecting our lives every day. For your continued service, we salute you. This message of appreciation to our nations veterans is brought to you by paralyzed veterans of america and unitedhealth group. I know if we can do this in trenton, new jersey, maybe the folks in washington, d. C. , should tune in their tvs right now, see how its done. New jersey governor christie says he can work with opposing parties and get things done for his state. So why cant washington . Christie won reelection by a wide margin and gained the majority of women and hispanics, two key demographics. That helped president obama win reelection. Were back with washington columnist kim strassel and our political diary editor, jason riley, and Editorial Board member, dorothy rebinowits. Kim, a lot of talk about governor christie now on the left and the right. Is he a model for republicans, how to win . Aspects of what he has done definitely are a model for how republicans want to win. Look, the idea for any party is youve got to expand the tent, and christies way of doing that has been to a lot of it has been about tone and message, paul. Hes actually a fairly conservative governor, but he does attempt to reach the other side. He talks to all voters. He had a good ground game up in new jersey, went out to a lot of different communities all during his first term, to make sure they knew what he accomplished. As a result, you saw it in those final poll numbers. He did well with a lot of the communities the republicans have struggled with. He made the tent bigger. Okay, but how much of this, jason, is about christies personal, unique personal political talents that arent translatable nationally . He is a charismatic guy. He also shows you can go out and get minority votes. You can go out and get young voters. You mentioned latinos and women. He also increased his numbers among blacks and among young people age 18 to 29. I mean, by double digits. I mean, this is what the gop needs to do. And he did it, he said in his speech, you know, you have to go to places where youre not comfortable. Not just places where youre comfortable. He cant just show up six months before the election and start then. I think the mindset of too Many Republican candidates has been to write off large segments of the voting public. Just lost to them. Lost to the gop. And christie shows even in the era of obama, you can go out and get minority votes if youre willing to go work for them. To go into those communities, introduce yourself and not let your opponent paint a picture of you. Dorothy, you listened to the governors victory speech. Do you think it suggest, a man ready to go national . I think hes hard to beat in terms of charisma, but also a man who could use a little touchup and a little listening to. How so . It was a very selfregarding speech. It was shocking a little too much about me, me, me . Me, me, me, yes. And it was a sense you dont hear all that often in christie. This plays against an era where we have a president who does nothing but use the personal pronoun. I, i, i. I sent these troops. Thats right. If youre running as a republican, you dont want to sound like that. You want to be a contrast. You want to be the guy he normally is, down to earth fellow, instead of the symphony of exiltation about New Jerseyans into which he falls now and again. This is a speech he should be watching before he goes on the campaign trail. I have great hope for christies capacity to learn. So, jason, what do you think . Ive listened to the governor. A couple of times. He can be very compelling but he also tends to go on and on and on and on. Politicians are no but its a particular kind of indiscipline that i think can get you into trouble. Everybody thinks its a great 20minute speech when its a 30minute speech, they think, how can i get out of here . Thats why we have the long primary process. Hell get tested. Hell learn how to tighten his game a little bit and i think hell get better as he goes forward. But i think he has a very compelling case to make here. This is a very blue state. This is a state obama won by double digits. Democratic state. He came out he comes out of this race with a running start, and i think particularly his ability to appeal to different demographic groups can go a long way. The liberals, kim, are already saying his appeal is that hes a moderate. And that is not a conservative like all those other crazy republicans in washington. So how does he bridge that in a republican primary, to be able to persuade conservatives who are the bulk of the primary voters . Yeah, i mean, christies problem here, and he is relatively conservative for the party. But, you know, being from new jersey and having to work in that environment, the reality is he steps back. Some of the reforms hes done have not been as striking or as far reaching as, for instance, what scott walker did in wisconsin in terms of government reform. I think what you see happens is he settles into this second term, youre going to see a pivot from Chris Christie. Hell be more aggressive about putting out things that really do resonate with the Republican Base on taxes and government reform. Maybe some areas where hes been a little weaker, for instance, the environment climate change. He might try to do something there. Okay. And try to position himself. All right. Kim, thanks. When we come back, new education reforms in washington, d. C. , and tennessee have taken effect. Find out how well schools in those regions have improved. Next. , have improved next. [ coughs, sneezes ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuf [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels dont unstuff your nose. They dont . Alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. What a relief it is. [ female announcer ] feed a man a cookie and he eats a cookie. Feed him a fresh baked cookie and he eats a much, much better cookie. Bake the world a better place with nestle toll house. Peace of mind is important when so we provide it services you bake tbucan rely on. Ter place with centurylink as your trusted it partner, youll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. Multilayered Security Solutions keep your information safe, and secure. And responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. Centurylink. Your link to whats next. The nations report card is out. The latest result is the National Assessment of educational process shows students in tennessee and the District Of Columbia made the biggest improvements in math and reading at the fourth and eighth grade levels. What are those School Districts doing that sets them apart from the rest . Im join by michelle ree, former d. C. School chancellor and founder of studentsfirst. Org. Welcome back to the program. Great to have you here. Thanks for having me. So as you look at the results, lets deal with the top line first, nationwide. It looks like theres not as much progress between 2011 and 2013 as we would like nationwide. Do you agree with that . Thats right. The results were relatively flat. I mean, we saw a little bit of an uptick here and there, but overall the nation is not gaining ground in the way we would want to see it. Okay. Now, lets focus in on where there was progress. Two of those states, well, District Of Columbia, where you were the former schools chancellor and tennessee. What do you think explains their rather remarkable progress . Tennessee catching up to almost the National Average and the district, as you know, having been among the worst School Districts in the country. These are both jurisdictions that have struggled in the past pretty significantly with large numbers of kids in failing schools. And while we cant attribute directly any one policy to the gains we have seen, we have to look at these two places and say what were they doing . Right. If you ask that question, its very clear both of these states are places that, one, invested in teacher effectiveness. They really prioritized that by putting in place doesnt pay structures that recognized and rewarded the best teachers in the classroom. They put in place rigorous teacher Evaluation Systems and invested heavily in professional development. The second thing both of these jurisdictions did is put in place high standards. Both of them were early adopters of the common core standards which are a set of internationally benchmarked standards that will make sure the kids catch up with the rest of the world so were no longer 25th in math. Lets dig into teacher evaluations a little bit. One of the keys seems to be youve got to link teacher evaluation to student performance. That is you have to link them to actually do you see student progress on tests . Is that a key in both states . Thats absolutely right. When i was the chancellor in d. C. , we had a circumstance where only 8 of our children in eighth grade were on grade level in mathematics. When you looked at the performance evaluations of adults in the system, 98 were rated as doing a great job. Everybody was a genius. Thats right. You had this total disconnect. D. C. And tennessee were the two jurisdictions across the country that actually implemented the model first, which said we have to link how well students are doing, how much theyre growing to a teachers evaluation. I think were beginning to see the fruits of that. You talked about rewarding good teachers with extra pay, but how did you weed out in d. C. , ineffective teachers, which can be a big part of the problem for many students . How do you decide who stays and who goes . Right. Well, its important to note when you put in place a teacher Evaluation System, you cant look at teachers through any one lens. You actually have to look at them through multiple lenses, and so what both d. C. And tennessee did was implement teacher Evaluation Systems that looked at, one, student growth, but, two, classroom observations. Three here in tennessee, theyre using student surveys to link to teacher evaluations. You have to look through multiple lenses at a teac