Pres. Obama: Transparency made healthcare bill better; more needed

President Barack Obama on Wednesday implored Democrats to handle healthcare as transparently as possible, as openness so far has made the "ultimate package... better than where we started."

But the president also hammered Senate Democrats for failing to televise the later stages of the healthcare debate, after both chambers had passed their respective bills.

He then repeated his line from Tuesday's town hall in Nashua, New Hampshire -- that prohibiting cameras from covering those meetings was a regrettable decision worthy of Republicans' criticism.

"The truth of the matter is the process looked painful and messy, but the innumerable hearings that were held did give an opportunity for the product to get refined so that i thnk the ultimate package... is better than where we started," the president told Senate Democrats at a caucus meeting this morning, in response to a question by Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo).

"At the end of the process, when we were fighting through all of these filibusters so we could try to get it done quickly... some of that transparency got lost," Obama later added. "And i think we paid a price for it."

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