“This is the least shocking thing since the sun came up in the east. This is what they do,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum. “They’ve essentially established that there’s going to be a rolling start to this thing.”

(Also on POLITICO: Another Obamacare extension)

There was also a tone to Thursday’s announcement that was close to pleading for help, as the administration urged insurers to cut the new customers a bit of slack — looking the other way if they sign up a few days late, and making their coverage retroactive if they pay a bit late…

And, of course, the one deadline that probably should have been delayed — the Oct. 1 of HealthCare.gov — wasn’t delayed, and the administration has been paying the price ever since.

But it may be hard for the administration to hold the line when it keeps moving so many other deadlines for the law — always a subtle admission that some component of Obamacare wasn’t quite ready when it was supposed to be.

“For all his attacks on our efforts, no one has done more to undermine the implementation of Obamacare than the president himself,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.