Kathleen Sibelius who remains the Secretary of Health and Human Services despite the debacle of the Obamacare exchange rollout, told CNN today that president Obama did not know of the so called "glitches" in the website until a day or two after the site went live on October first. This is one of the most incredible statements I have ever heard.
First of all, a big chunk of America knew many months ago that there were likely to be problems with the rollout of the Obamacare exchanges. I have heard experts discuss the lack of proper testing of the federal website on numerous occasions on the news. The first time I heard this was last July. In each of these discussions, the experts said that inadequate testing would likely lead to severe problems with the website. My personal experience is important because I have nothing to do with the website going live; I just heard the warnings as part of the regular cable news cycles. If I heard these warnings, then there had to be thousands of folks in Washington who also heard them. Without a doubt, the White House was well aware of the potential disaster of a website that failed to work.
Second, if the president were doing his job, he must have been aware of the problems with the website long before it went live. Remember this is the single most important part of the item that Obama considers his greatest achievement. It is inconceivable that Obama went through the run up to the opening of the exchanges and never once asked how things were going with developing the site. It is also inconceivable that Obama's staff learned that there was impending disaster of monumental importance to the country and to Obama but then they decided not to tell the president. Obama had to know of the problems.
Let's assume for the moment that Sibelius is telling the truth and Obama did not bother to ask about the development of the website. That means that Obama did not care enough about the country to ask about the website development. It means that Obama chose not to do his job. In truth, it means that Obama is not fit to be president.
The next alternative is even more troubling. Let's assume that Obama knew there would be problems but decided to go ahead with the roll out anyway. That decision means that rather than admit to the Republicans who were calling for a one year delay in implementing Obamacare that they had a point, Obama chose to inflict this disaster on the country. That comes close to an impeachable offense in my view.
Then there is a third choice. Maybe Obama just did not understand what was happening. Maybe Obama is delusional. That is the worst choice of all for obvious reasons.
The truth is that there is no good reason why Obama let the roll out proceed when his administration knew that failure was the likely outcome.
First of all, a big chunk of America knew many months ago that there were likely to be problems with the rollout of the Obamacare exchanges. I have heard experts discuss the lack of proper testing of the federal website on numerous occasions on the news. The first time I heard this was last July. In each of these discussions, the experts said that inadequate testing would likely lead to severe problems with the website. My personal experience is important because I have nothing to do with the website going live; I just heard the warnings as part of the regular cable news cycles. If I heard these warnings, then there had to be thousands of folks in Washington who also heard them. Without a doubt, the White House was well aware of the potential disaster of a website that failed to work.
Second, if the president were doing his job, he must have been aware of the problems with the website long before it went live. Remember this is the single most important part of the item that Obama considers his greatest achievement. It is inconceivable that Obama went through the run up to the opening of the exchanges and never once asked how things were going with developing the site. It is also inconceivable that Obama's staff learned that there was impending disaster of monumental importance to the country and to Obama but then they decided not to tell the president. Obama had to know of the problems.
Let's assume for the moment that Sibelius is telling the truth and Obama did not bother to ask about the development of the website. That means that Obama did not care enough about the country to ask about the website development. It means that Obama chose not to do his job. In truth, it means that Obama is not fit to be president.
The next alternative is even more troubling. Let's assume that Obama knew there would be problems but decided to go ahead with the roll out anyway. That decision means that rather than admit to the Republicans who were calling for a one year delay in implementing Obamacare that they had a point, Obama chose to inflict this disaster on the country. That comes close to an impeachable offense in my view.
Then there is a third choice. Maybe Obama just did not understand what was happening. Maybe Obama is delusional. That is the worst choice of all for obvious reasons.
The truth is that there is no good reason why Obama let the roll out proceed when his administration knew that failure was the likely outcome.
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