Pat Buchanan, John King Agree: Obama Apology Not Broad Enough

Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan and CNN correspondent John King agreed on one thing after hearing President Barack Obama's apology to people who have lost insurance plans they like: It wasn't big enough.

"I think it's unsatisfactory entirely," Buchanan said Thursday on Fox News Channel's "On the Record." 

Obama apologized during an interview Thursday with NBC News.

Editor's Note: Should ObamaCare Be Defunded? Vote in Urgent National Poll

 But Buchanan said the apology was made only to individuals who have lost their policies, not to the nation as a whole, which he "systematically and deliberately misled."

CNN's Erin Burnett  said Obama continued to press his line that people still will get better plans than they had.

King told Burnett that wouldn't cut it with many people. Obama's administration knew in  summer 2010 that as many as two-thirds of those in individual market would be impacted, King said, but two years later, he still made the promise in the campaign that people could keep plans they liked.

"That's the credibility ditch he's trying to take himself out of," King said. The apology might be a beginning, he said,"but it's a very modest beginning."

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who has fought to repeal or delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, told Fox News he wants Obama to follow up on his pledge to help people who have had their policies cancelled.

"I want to know what he's going to do," he said.

But Lee said he is skeptical insurance companies can be forced to reinstate policies they already have closed.