Fmr. Obama Adviser: White House Considered Gruber An ‘Important Figure,’ ‘The Man’ [VIDEO]

While Democrats continue their sprint away from Jonathan Gruber’s comments, the left-wing media has, unsurprisingly, gone nearly silent on the Obamacare architect, with MSNBC leading the way. But that doesn’t mean all shows on the network have shied away from the comments, with “Morning Joe” picking up Gruber’s comments as a relevant issue.

Appearing with co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, former Obama adviser and “car czar” Steven Rattner said that during his brief tenure in the administration (the first few months of 2009), Gruber was considered an “important figure” and “the man” by the White House at the time. Rattner also became critical of the White House’s reaction to the comments, pointing out that everyone was quoting Gruber’s name in 2009, as he was the “guru” on health care.

Steve Rattner: Jonathan Gruber was, back in the day in 2009, the guru on health care. He designed the Massachusetts plan for [Mitt] Romney. I think if you go back and look at the Washington Post or The New York Times or anything from that period you will find Jonathan Gruber’s name all over it as both someone who’s the leading expert on health care quoted by everybody, and as someone who the White House was using — I don’t think we knew the dollar numbers he was paid at the time — but I remember that when I was in the White House, he was certainly viewed as an important figure in helping to put Obamacare together. The problem is not that Gruber helped them put Obamacare together, because he was the man. The problem is what he said in the last two weeks and how the White House has handled it.