Another Obamacare Change; Obama Signs Up
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: You know how fast he travels.</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'm worried about the lack of snow.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: He is leaving Russia or is that the black sea that he's going over.</s>MARQUEZ: I don't know.</s>BOLDUAN: You're the only one with a cell phone.</s>CUOMO: I will. Being good is not over yet.</s>CUOMO: He's saying that to you and people on set as well. Time now for our political gut check of the morning, the administration made yet another last-minute change to Obamacare deadlines extending the enrolment period for people seeking coverage beginning January 1st. Also, the president signing up for health care coverage as well. Joining us with a closer look at all, CNN chief national correspondent, John King. John, you heard -- we will get to the Santa tracker in just one second. We'll get to the most important thing of the day, don't worry.</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The debate question is what time did you start the eggnog?</s>BOLDUAN: John King, you know, that's the only way I could get to the show. All right, so back to Obamacare, a day added to the enrolment period. Is it being seen as a good sign for Obamacare that there's all of this interest right at the end or is this seen as moving the goalposts yet again.</s>KING: Well, again, it depends on your political perspective largely. The administration says, look, we're giving people an extra day. If they sign up by midnight tonight now, if you haven't signed up, you can go online. That deadline was supposed to be last night, midnight, 11:59. It gives people an extra day. The administration says why not. If there's been a rush at the end. They acknowledge the glitches they've had. As we talked about many, many, many times, the more people in, the better the financial footing of the program. Critics say there have been more proof, modifications made, deadlines extended. More proof, this thing is too big, too bulky and doesn't work. Lo and behold as we get to Christmas, the political debate will continue and we'll carry it over to next year. If you want to, there's a period of grace.</s>CUOMO: Look, more time to sign up, it's got to be a good thing. That's what makes the program function.</s>KING: Right.</s>CUOMO: Help me understand this. The president symbolically signs up for Obamacare. Now, remind me, but I remember one of the rules of politics being, you never try to approximate normalcy as a politician. If you don't live the way other people do, don't pretend to. What do you think went into this and do you think it's effective?</s>KING: It's a symbolic move and the White House acknowledges that. Again, everything about this program is so black and white because it's been become so polarizing politically. The president says, look, I wanted to show solidarity with people so I'm signing up for the D.C. health exchange. He lives here in Washington, D.C. The issue is this, though, he couldn't do it himself. When you logon to the computer, the computer verifies your Social Security number, your personal information. Well, the database doesn't have the president for valid national security reasons. He had to send an aide to the D.C. exchange to sign up. Some say good for you, you're supporting the program. Others say, I got kicked off, I tried to go online. The system wouldn't take me. I waited online for hours or I called one of those call centers and I got put on hold. The president didn't have to go through that. This is such a black and white issue. Some say good for you and others say more proof of the problems.</s>BOLDUAN: And also, of course, on the flip side, it may be a damn if you, damn if you don't situation. If he didn't sign up, then there could --</s>CUOMO: He doesn't need it. That's what confused me.</s>BOLDUAN: His staunchest critics would say, if we have to do it, you have to do it, too. You can see it.</s>CUOMO: Yes, I can. I just feel like there was an opportunity for his party to say it's a little bit of the misinformation on the program. You know, it doesn't cover people who already get it. It doesn't cover us who are covered by the military. It's smaller in scale than some people think, but this kind of goes the other way.</s>KING: It goes the other way. Someone who spent a lot of time covering the White House, look, the president has pretty good health care. He always has a doctor in the house. I'm not saying that to be snarky. It's a pretty good gig. Our command-in-chief, Republican, Democrat, if we ever get to an independent in the White House, they deserve it.</s>BOLDUAN: And so the deadline is tonight. We will watch it. What everybody wants to know, what are those final signup numbers at least for this round? We'll see. Thanks, John.</s>KING: Take care, guys. Merry Christmas.</s>BOLDUAN: You, too. We'll see you soon.</s>CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, we are going to hear from a man battling to take his wife off life support. He says it was her wish that they had an agreement. Doctors say they can't. Here's why, she's pregnant. He'll share his heart wrenching reasons for his fight on the show.</s>BOLDUAN: Then later which holiday movie do you consider must-see classics? Would the film "Love Actually" make that list? The raging debate, ahead.