Obama jabs press: Future HealthCare.gov outages ‘won’t be news’

President Obama expressed the White House’s frustration with news coverage of the Affordable Care Act’s rocky rollout by taking a jab at the press on Tuesday.

During his ObamaCare enrollment victory lap speech in the Rose Garden, the president swiped at reporters, who the White House believes were too eager to spotlight every incremental development associated with the site’s botched launch.

{mosads}“I want to make sure everybody understands — in the months, years ahead, I guarantee you there will be additional challenges to implementing this law,” Obama said. “There will be days when the website stumbles. I guarantee it. So, press, I want you to anticipate there will be some moment when the website is down, and I know it will be on all your front pages. It’s going to happen. It won’t be news.”

Obama cracked a smile during the remark, and Vice President Biden, standing behind the president, laughed as well.

The HealthCare.gov outages were the primary focus of the Washington press corps in the early days of the launch, which failed spectacularly after a three-year buildup to the law’s implementation. The administration has maintained it has a long view for the Affordable Care Act and that the law won’t be defined by its early troubles.

“Despite several lost weeks out of the gate because of problems with the website, 7.1 million Americans have now signed up for private insurance through these marketplaces,” the president touted in his speech.