"Hotsheet Live": Did the White House fold?

CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer, chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell and The Atlantic's James Fallows joined CBS News' Whit Johnson Friday on Hotsheet Live to discuss President Obama's decision to modify a requirement religiously-linked employers pay for birth control for their employees.

Schieffer said the White House folded on the issue, calling it a "political blunder."

"This is something that should not have happened in a campaign year," Schieffer said. "The White House can call it whatever they want to, but they had to back down."

While Mr. Obama felt pressure to alter his decision, O'Donnell said, "[Officials believe] that this is an issue that will benefit them in the long-run."

Fallows, who has just published a high-profile essay on the Obama presidency, said the president wants to "position himself as the man who can listen to all reasonable concerns" as he campaigns for re-election and courts voters in the center.

Watch the entire discussion - including O'Donnell's explanation of why some religious institutions continue to offer contraceptive care - in the video above.