0 now adding all kinds of context and qualifiers saying what he meant is anyone who had insurance before health care was signed into law in march 2010 is grandfathered in, except on the third anniversary of the bill signing this march the president put out a written statement using the present tense declaring "if you like the plan you have, you can keep it." and on monday night top white house advisor valerie jarrett took to twitter to "nothing in obama care forces people out of their health plans. no change is required unless insurance companies change existing plans." liberal columnist jonathan tate responded in new york magazine that in fact the new law is the very reason insurance companies are now dropping people. wrote jar rod's claim sheer absurdity. a promise that felt like a mere oversimplification may eventually feel like one in retrospect currently feels like a lie." >> so when you say nothing in obama care caused that, that's >> we understand the affordable care act is the law of the land. we do. but we also understand from our constituents that there is a disaster of a rollout that's occurring, not a hiccup, but a disaster of a rollout that's occurring. >> reporter: committee chairman dave camp asked if the administration would make internal projection of enrolling 495,000 by october 31st. >> we will not have those numbers available until mid-november. >> so do you not know? do you not have any idea of how many people have enrolled? >> folks are still in the process of enrolling. in the state-based exchanges and in the federal exchange. and we will have those numbers available in november. >> reporter: new jersey democrat tempers flared after arkansas republican said the gop had offered alternatives to obama care. >> are you serious what you just said? are you really serious? after what we have gone through, after what we've gone through in the last three and a half years. bret. >> mike emanuel live on the hill. mike, thank you. a series of policy disasters for the administration and the subsequent explanations all point to a president who many now see as less than fully engaged. tonight, white house correspondent wendell golar goes down the list. >> reporter: from the irs's targeting of conservative groups. >> i first learned about it from the same news reports that i think most people learned about this. >> reporter: the justice department subpoenas of news organizations. >> he found out about the news reports yesterday on the road. >> reporter: to the attack on the consulate in benghazi. >> nobody understood exactly what was taking place during the course of those first few days. >> reporter: the president's most common defense seems to be i didn't know. add the fast and furious gun sting and the culpable deniability is expanded to attorney general holder. >> he's indicated he's not aware of what was happening in fast and furious. certainly i was not. >> reporter: and while he reportedly didn't know about the nsa spying on our allies until edward snowden leaked details, his aides can't publicly confirm intelligence details but they do say it's not going on anymore. >> we do not and will not monitor the chancellor's communications. >> reporter: they also say obama's critics are making a single asujs from a number of unrelated incidents. >> the president appears to be in the dark about some pretty significant stories that are swirling around this white house. >> republican critics say a lot of things. >> reporter: actually, so do the president's friends. >> what else has the president not been told? >> well, basically all the bad stuff. >> reporter: aides say the president was caught off guard when the government shutdown froze death benefits to the families of servicemen and women. the republican national committee now calls mr. obama the bystander president. an oklahoma senator says one result of that is no one's held responsible for failures like the botched launch of the obama care website. >> what one individual was responsible for putting this together or saying time-out, we're not ready? >> reporter: historians say sometimes presidents are kept out of the loop for their own protection. take ronald reagan and the iran contra scandal. >> there are some things they probably need deniability on, for example, the government does spy on other nations. >> reporter: at the same time hesz says chancellor merkel may be the least of mr. obama's problems. >> clearly the question of what now we call obama care, that's a loop he had better be in because that is the legacy of his whole administration. >> reporter: steven hess deciding whatnot to tell the president is a judgment call, and some details seem unimportant until they explode. >> wendell goler in the briefing room. thank you. do you think the president is out of the loop being protected by his people for plausible deniability or something else? let me know on twitter. you can follow me. up next, is nsa spying on foreign leaders just business as usual? first, here's what some of our fox affiliates across the country are covering tonight. wfld in chicago with the first day in prison for jesse jackson jr. the former democratic congressman is serving 30 months for spending campaign money on personal items. fox 6 in birmingham, alabama, profiles a businessman who was outside the kenyan mall as it was attacked by terrorists last month. scott gilpin stayed in the country a few extra days to help victims of that attack. and this is a live look at los angeles from kttv, the big story there tonight, the city's legal action against a hot sauce plant that has area residents hot bothered the smell. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] maybe you've already heard what they're saying about the nissan altima. ♪ and we have to admit, that it's all true. but don't just take their word for it, check it out for yourself. the award-winning nissan altima. nissan. innovation that excites. now get a $179 per month lease on a 2013 nissan altima. ♪