President Barack Obama's image repair on HealthCare.gov

•Healthcare.gov had problems, including a promise that people could keep their current plan.•Obama used an interview and a press conference to try to turn around his image problem.•His defense relied primarily on mortification, corrective action, and minimization.•A hitherto undiscussed strategy attempted to minimize offensiveness by reducing expectations.

Obama's health care initiative HealthCare.gov went live on October 1, 2013. It was plagued with problems. Furthermore, the President promised that if people liked their current health care plan, they could keep it. People were shocked when they started to receive cancelation notices from their insurance companies. Republicans seized on the opportunity to savage the president, his administration, and his health care program. Obama's approval rating was anemic and on November 7, he was interviewed by Chuck Todd and on November 14, 2013, Obama held a press conference to try to mend his image. His defense relied heavily on mortification, corrective action, and minimization but also contained instances of defeasibility, bolstering, and transcendence. This essay uses Image Repair theory to analyze and evaluate the President's image repair effort.