Obama willing to tweak ObamaCare: But what about repeal?

President Obama is "open to changes" that would improve his health care law but not to totally changing it, new White House Chief of Staff William Daley said today. "People have suggestions on how to make it better," Daley said on CBS' Face The Nation. "But he is not in favor of refighting this fight."

The Republican-run U.S. House has voted to repeal the entire health care law passed last year, though leaders of the Democratic-run Senate have said they will not follow suit.

Daley, an executive with JPMorgan Chase before becoming chief of staff this month, revised the criticism of the health care law he himself made when he was in the business world. Daley said he had a problem with the politics surrounding the health care issue, rather than the bill itself.

"I thought it was a very difficult climate to try to accomplish what they tried to," Daley said. "And I think the results, because of the misinterpretation of health care by many people, had a negative impact on Democrats."

Daley said businesspeople did want to change the health care system, quoting business leaders as saying, "This is costing us too much. It's too much of a wet blanket on the economy.'"

Here is what Obama said during last week's State of the Union speech about health care:

Now, I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law. (Laughter.) So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses. (Applause.)

What I'm not willing to do -- what I'm not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a preexisting condition. (Applause.)

I'm not willing to tell James Howard, a brain cancer patient from Texas, that his treatment might not be covered. I'm not willing to tell Jim Houser, a small business man from Oregon, that he has to go back to paying $5,000 more to cover his employees. As we speak, this law is making prescription drugs cheaper for seniors and giving uninsured students a chance to stay on their patients' -- parents' coverage. (Applause.)

So I say to this chamber tonight, instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let's fix what needs fixing and let's move forward. (Applause.)