Althouse: Embarrassingly lame joke Jennifer Granholm had ready for her "Meet the Press" effort to buck up support for Obamacare.

October 27, 2013

Embarrassingly lame joke Jennifer Granholm had ready for her "Meet the Press" effort to buck up support for Obamacare.

"First of all, the President is so mad about about this that he himself with go down and supervise the writing of code if this is not fixed by the end of November."

That's not just lame, actually. It's enraging. Who cares how mad Obama is? It's not like his overflowing emotions are fixing anything. Is his anger supposed to work as a painkiller when what we want is a cure? I think of this:

Quite beyond the irritating palliative medicine of Obama's choler, there's the flaunting of rank incompetence. Obama supervising the writing of code?! He knows nothing about writing code. The notion that he'd select himself as the supervisor of an activity about which he lacks any expertise only heightens our suspicion that he's been selecting the wrong people all along.

139 comments:

great Unknown said...: "...only heightens our suspicion that he's been selecting the wrong people all along."

Replace "he's" with "we've" and you've nailed it.; 10/27/13, 11:41 AM
rehajm said...: ...and we all know what competence looks like.; 10/27/13, 11:43 AM
Gahrie said...: only heightens our suspicion that he's been selecting the wrong people all along.

For some of us, it's been more than a suspicion all along......the rest of you just refused to listen to us.; 10/27/13, 11:49 AM
effinayright said...: Word has it that King Putt has bragged that he knew he could write bug-free code faster than the best writer of bug-free code --- just as he knew he could write better speeches than his speechwriters.

He is truly the Kim Il Sung of American politics, with his megalomanic narcissism.

Many of us had him pegged from the start.

Others are awakening to the embarrassing fact that they are as easily seduced by the Cult of Personality as were those who engaged in hero-worship of Lenin, Stalin and, of course that Austrian guy whose Name can no longer be invoked for comparison.; 10/27/13, 11:49 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Liberals think these kind of jokes are cute and endearing.; 10/27/13, 11:51 AM
effinayright said...: Word has it that King Putt has bragged that he knew he could write bug-free code faster than the best writer of bug-free code --- just as he knew he could write better speeches than his speechwriters.

He is truly the Kim Il Sung of American politics, with his megalomanic narcissism.

Many of us had him pegged from the start.

Others are awakening to the embarrassing fact that they are as easily seduced by the Cult of Personality as were those who engaged in hero-worship of Lenin, Stalin and, of course that Austrian guy whose Name can no longer be invoked for comparison.; 10/27/13, 11:52 AM
Chris Lopes said...: "He knows nothing about writing code."
Actually he knows as much about writing code as he does about governing.; 10/27/13, 11:52 AM
pm317 said...: It's enraging. Who cares how mad Obama is?

You tell them, Althouse! It is one thing for people like me who saw his incompetence before like you to rant; it is one thing for crazy republicans to rant against his so obvious rank incompetence; but it is entirely another for someone like you who voted for him and gave him chance after chance to go ranting. So you go girl! Tear them down, tear them up. I don't know what it will accomplish now but it is cathartic.; 10/27/13, 11:52 AM
Anonymous said...: These guys at the WH for POTUS are amateurs. The guy, NatSecWonK was correct: The POTUS staff are s***y. The more I think about Obama the more I wonder if we were all taken to cleaners in 2008 with hopey chantey. The guy is all talk. His staff are all talk. What have they actually done? I just want details/specifics? What has Hillary! done that will warrant her the nomination in 2016 (she will get it, because we all will be suckers again). A sucker is born in America every four years.; 10/27/13, 11:54 AM
rhhardin said...: It's more likely a design problem, not a code problem.

Even code that works wouldn't work.; 10/27/13, 11:55 AM
rhhardin said...: The healthcare system itself, aside from the enrollment system, won't work, but that's another level that was obvious from the start.

An economics problem, not a computer problem.; 10/27/13, 11:57 AM
rhhardin said...: The economics problem, though, will provoke more intervention still, making it worse still, and so forth until the NYT comes out against it, possibly under new ownership after a fire sale.; 10/27/13, 11:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Medicare Part D, who was to blame that 4 months after it's roll out, it still wasn't working properly?; 10/27/13, 12:00 PM
Anonymous said...: And who is given credit that it works fine now?; 10/27/13, 12:01 PM
Jim said...: As good as the sites work, I'd be surprised if the President hadn't written the code himself. Sort of like an Algeld Gardens asbestos removal for the 21st century.http://www.wbez.org/programs/afternoon-shift/2012-11-05/altgeld-gardens-four-years-later-103659; 10/27/13, 12:01 PM
Wince said...: Granholm's insertion of humor there reveals their hope is that a majority "continue to believe" that Obama is a doer, a fixer.

"First of all, the President is so mad about about this that he himself with go down and supervise the writing of code if this is not fixed by the end of November."

I was waiting for Ed McMahon to say, "How mad is he?"

Maybe Granholm was talking about insanity rather than anger?; 10/27/13, 12:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Obama wants to be King, in a place like the UK. The figurehead of state, rather than the guy (PM)who keeps the trains running on time.

His name is on the thing, by god. If he actually cared, he would have done a Brimley two weeks ago:

James A. Wells, Assistant U.S. Attorney General: Now we'll talk all day if you want to. But, come sundown, there's gonna be two things true that ain't true now. One is that the United States Department of Justice is goin' to know what in the good Christ - e'scuse me, Angie - is goin' on around here. And the other's I'm gonna have somebody's ass in muh briefcase.

His "I'm mad" schtick? Just an attempt to put himself in the crowd with the torches and pitchforks yelling at the nobles instead of being the target of the guys with the torches.; 10/27/13, 12:05 PM
Gahrie said...: Inga:

Let me guess..Bush for the first question, and Obama for the second?

I bet you had a relative on the Titanic busy telling everyone how great the voyage was, and there was no way the ship could sink, and besides...lots of other ships have sunk in the past....as it slipped slowly beneath the waves.; 10/27/13, 12:06 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: The President just needs to apply his meticulous Harvard Law Review cite checking skills to a thorough code review. They've given themselves until the end of November, so that means all leaves are cancelled for Thanksgiving.; 10/27/13, 12:07 PM
Bob Boyd said...: You have to admire the patience Obama shows to these hapless, bumbling computer types.
I mean the self control it must take for the President to restrain himself from just rushing down. Wow. But he chooses to stay up. Incredible!
What a guy!; 10/27/13, 12:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Gahrie, you would be wrong. Bush/ Bush.; 10/27/13, 12:10 PM
caseym54 said...: Obama is a perfect Dilbert boss.

Such as here.; 10/27/13, 12:12 PM
jdunmyer said...: I can't believe that Jennifer Granholm has the guts to show her face with the way she left Michigan after 8 years in office. Like Obama, she gave a couple of good-sounding speeches, and like Obama, some people actually thought she should run for President, based soley on those speeches. "Darn shame she was born in Canada and is ineligible to run."; 10/27/13, 12:12 PM
pm317 said...: Noonan makes a point I have made before:

"All this from the world’s greatest, most technologically sophisticated nation, the one that invented the computer and the Internet. And from a government that is able to demand and channel a great deal of the people’s wealth."

A technologically advanced first world government program.. {shaking head}. I lay the failure squarely on Obama. This is no longer Chicago -- it is the world.; 10/27/13, 12:14 PM
Anonymous said...: I bet you had a relative on the Titanic busy telling everyone how great the voyage was, and there was no way the ship

The Dems are rearranging deck chairs and making drinks with the iceberg shavings.

When the Titanic went down, at least the Captain and the Builder went down with the ship...; 10/27/13, 12:15 PM
madAsHell said...: The conversation is too smooth. It feels like it is rehearsed.; 10/27/13, 12:17 PM
Pookie Number 2 said...: Who cares how mad Obama is?

I can't tell whether this is a serious question, but Obama certainly won the presidency on the basis of his persona rather than his experience.

There's unfortunately no shortage of people that will subsequently be impressed and inspired by his emotional responses, because, well, he's not there for reasons of competence.; 10/27/13, 12:19 PM
Big Mike said...: The more I look at Barack Obama the more he looks like this.; 10/27/13, 12:19 PM
pm317 said...: Norman Ornstein in National Journal this week reminds us of Democratic Sen. Max Baucus’s iceberg warning—actually “train wreck”—at a hearing six months ago, in April. He warned implementation of ObamaCare could be a disaster. He told Mrs. Sebelius: “I understand you’ve hired a contractor. I’m just worried that that’s going to be money down the drain because contractors like to make money more than they like to do anything else. That’s their job.” A lot of agencies are involved, he said, people are going to get confused, more simplicity is needed.

In fact this is the problem with government run programs in general. Contractors want to make money. Limit government programs to people who can't take care of themselves, to destitute, to people who need safety net, and may be even help people with pre-existing conditions get healthcare at reasonable rates, rescue people who have catastrophic health incidents. But this Obamcare boondoggle is crazy. America is all about innovation and where is the innovation in Obamacare?; 10/27/13, 12:26 PM
jacksonjay said...: Barry is so pissed, he fired Twitter Boy for disrespecting Val!; 10/27/13, 12:26 PM
BarryD said...: Inga, Medicare Part D is a child's plaything compared to this.

I wouldn't be too quick to assume that this is even fixable without tossing it out and replacing it from the ground up.

As rhhardin wrote, it's most likely a design problem. You can write all the code you want, and you can't fix something that is based on a failed fundamental design by piling more code on it, or tweaking a module here and there.

Apple did it with fanfare, whereas Microsoft did it more quietly. However, both major microcomputer OSes in the 1990s were thrown away and replaced because they had been based on faulty fundamental designs. What we use now may look like what we used then, but everything under the skin is completely different. And these are the major players worldwide, not little upstarts. They both came to the conclusion that they were just making things worse by adding and tweaking.

That's just one example that is familiar to the average consumer.

I know some people who work on big banking systems. The sloppy practices used in the healthcare.gov project would never fly, there. There is code still running, that's been around for decades, because it's been TESTED thoroughly. You don't do something like healthcare.gov without serious security and serious testing. This was built with NEITHER. That suggests that the people doing it don't know WTF they're doing, or, more likely, they got a no-bid contract, took the money, and didn't care.

It helps to know the right people, when you're in the taxpayer-raping, er, government contracting business. No-bid is the way you want it.

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/10/26/michelle-obamas-classmate-a-senior-vp-with-company-that-created-healthcare-gov-85944; 10/27/13, 12:28 PM
pm317 said...: Sorry,excerpt in my previous comment is also from Noonan's article.; 10/27/13, 12:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Whoa, has she had a lot of work done since she left office.; 10/27/13, 12:29 PM
pm317 said...: Medicare Part D is a child's plaything compared to this.

Glad you made this comment. I wanted to but was not going to educate ignorant people.; 10/27/13, 12:30 PM
jacksonjay said...: Barry is so pissed, he fired Twitter Boy for disrespecting Val!; 10/27/13, 12:32 PM
TOTWTYTR said...: The notion that he'd select himself as the supervisor of an activity about which he lacks any expertise only heightens our suspicion that he's been selecting the wrong people all along.

Well, it's only fair. The voters selected the wrong President in the first place.; 10/27/13, 12:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Barry D, "a child's plaything", yet it took months to get it up and running, which it did and now works well. Show me where Democrats have ever said that Obamacare is written in stone. Things that won't work can be changed so it will eventually work or be transformed into something else. As far as I'm concerned Single Payor is preferable, so maybe y'all should not spit in the wind.

What is the Republican plan?; 10/27/13, 12:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Pm317, if I were you I wouldn't make comments about your disabilities.; 10/27/13, 12:36 PM
BarryD said...: You are conflating two different things. You don't know anything about actually implementing IT or any other project that has to work, right?

Also, you missed the point. Part D is a child's plaything, and it took a long time. Take something 100 times as complex, and it takes longer than we have.

I think single-payer is crap. What it leads to is poverty-level healthcare for most, and private, pay-as-you-go healthcare for the truly wealthy who actually want to get medical care that's worth a damn.

My parents immigrated to the US from Austria, where it works just like that. The British have it worse, and the Canadians have the US as a safety valve -- something they make use of frequently when their own system fails. Where are Americans going to go?

Check the Swiss system. It's far more "free-market" than Obamacare, but everyone is covered. It's nothing near single-payer.

WRT Democrats saying that Obamacare being written in stone, where in hell were you for the first half of this month?

Now I'm not a Republican, so don't take this as support for the Stupid Party. However, there is a Republican plan. Again, where were you?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-23/a-serious-republican-health-care-plan.html; 10/27/13, 12:43 PM
pm317 said...: IT is a clusterfuck and it does not do anything about cost.; 10/27/13, 12:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Barry, no kidding it's complex. We as Americans can do complex things. Really, how did we ever get a man on the moon? How was Amazon set up? Is it magic that these things we think we can't do actually eventually are conquered and done well?

It's too easy to be dismissive of government doing difficult things. It's part of anti government group think. Leftists are accused of worshiping government, rightists appear to think government is the devil. Where are the pragmatic, independant thinkers? In hiding?; 10/27/13, 12:50 PM
LilyBart said...: Re: painkiller comment

The funniest (sad funny) thing about politics is that people really seem think that politicians "care" about their lives and their families.

We (average people) have way too much at stake in our lives to let ambitious and ideological politicians have so much control over our lives and our money. It just won't end well for the average person. Seems to end well for the politically-connected, though.; 10/27/13, 12:50 PM
rehajm said...: rhhardin said...
It's more likely a design problem, not a code problem.

..a design problem that won't be fixed with more code.; 10/27/13, 12:52 PM
LilyBart said...: It's part of anti government group think

We're not "anti-government", we're "small government".

Government is like most things in life: a little is a good thing, too much or none at all are bad things.

Government is making promises it just cannot keep - no matter how well the code is written. And people are organizing their lives relying on these promises. Its not going to end very well for the average family.; 10/27/13, 12:54 PM
Anonymous said...: "My parents immigrated to the US from Austria....."

10/27/13, 12:43 PM

Barry,
We have that in common at least. At any rate my relatives in Germany have absolutely no complaints about their form of healthcare and have expressed their sympathy for Americans who had to be faced with bankruptcy should they become seriously ill.; 10/27/13, 12:57 PM
William said...: The New Deal is famous for passing Social Security, FDIC, and unemployment insurance. Hardly anyone remembers the NRA (not that one), the AAA, and the fact that the New Deal never actually ended the Great Depression. FDR kept winning elections by huge margins, even when he was half dead......I don't think the massive failure of Obamacare will truly hurt the Democrats. It's true that most people will pay more for worst coverage, but someone, somewhere with a pre existing condition will benefit from it. Expect Tom Hanks movies about these people. Hillary will get elected on her promise to tweak the system and make it an even greater boon to mankind.; 10/27/13, 12:59 PM
Anonymous said...: Granholm is a typical Lib hack. She's a Canadian who served two unremarkable terms as Mich gov. She gave the body twisting speech at the 2012 Dem Convention that someone overlaid w/ Howard Dean's "I have a Scream Speech." This quip is supposed to mean that Obama had nothing to with the Obamacare fiasco, just as he's had nothing to do with the many, many scandals of his administration. If true, what does he do? Ike had already written a resignation letter if D-Day failed. Jay Carney, as his press secretary, would've said "No one is more disturbed at the D-Day debacle than Ike and we will get to the bottom of it. That some Republicans are trying to use this American tragedy for political gain is unconscionable."; 10/27/13, 1:01 PM
David said...: Suspicion?

People suspect he's got the wrong team?

If they are only at the suspicion stage, it's hopeless for them.

Remember also, there are issues beyond web design and programming skills. That's the obvious present problem but not the main issue.

The best web designers in the world can not cohere an incoherent program.; 10/27/13, 1:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Cruz is a Canadian too! They have that in common.; 10/27/13, 1:03 PM
pm317 said...: rehajm said...

That is a fine article. Suits versus geeks is right and with stupid politicians, it is suits on steroids.

About this Obamacare clusterfuck, the access is only the tip of the iceberg -- the red flags are what is being sent to the insurance companies. Say the access gets fixed and millions start to apply and their applications make their way to insurance companies -- do they trust the data they receive? This is a classic IT clusterfuck -- data integrity and consistency, security, privacy, on and on.; 10/27/13, 1:05 PM
bandmeeting said...: how did we ever get a man on the moon?

Well, had King Barry been in office they would have stuck some dynamite under a trash can and hoped it had enough blast to get the boys in orbit. Since he wasn't, they took their time to develop the project so that it had some chance of succeeding.

You say that it is complex. Fair enough. That is not an excuse for not getting it right. The whole thing is one big sack of shit.

Had Shrub been in charge of this it would be obvious proof of his incompetence. If only the MSM could judge The One by the same standard.; 10/27/13, 1:07 PM
Audrey said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/27/13, 1:08 PM
Audrey said...: Inga - Medicare Part D is quite a different program. It has enrolled a small fraction of the American population (less than 10%)and the impact has not been seen by the majority of the American public, unlike Obamacare. Multiple studies have shown that the economic benefit for seniors was negligible so those of us who saw it as an obvious vote getter for Repubs (and I am a Repub saying this) were right. As an NP who cares for mostly older patients, I can tell you the "doughnut hole" still exists and most patients have seen no real benefits.

Socialism just doesn't work in the long run because it is a government-sanctioned Ponzi scheme and all the magical wishful thinking in the world will never change basic economics. Libs just always have to learn the hard way.; 10/27/13, 1:09 PM
From Inwood said...: The Alleged Best & The Alleged Brightest who will actually implement the well-intended, well-worded, formal regulations of the new neo-Socialist/Liberal/ Progressive Eden (said regulations having been issued ex cathedra, with the appropriate pomp & circumstance) will always be drawn from the citizen pool on which the neo-Socialists/Liberals/Progressives look down. Thus, the argument then that we, the neo-Socialists/Liberals/Progressives (hey, ignore the History of all those failed Socialists, Marxists, & Communists you keep lecturing us about) will have The Best & The Brightest running (The Obamaoid’s “better governmental oversight”) our neo-Socialist/Liberal/Progressive Eden is but arrant nonsense.; 10/27/13, 1:12 PM
Audrey said...: Cruz is a Canadian too! They have that in common.

Well, he was. He renounced his citizenship in August. Try to keep up.; 10/27/13, 1:18 PM
ErnieG said...: "First of all, the President is so mad about about this that he himself with go down and supervise the writing of code if this is not fixed by the end of November."

"First of all, the President is so mad about about this that he threw himself on the floor and started chewing on the edge of the carpet."

There. Fixed it.; 10/27/13, 1:20 PM
Chuck said...: The mere image of Jennifer Granholm is enraging to many Michiganians.

Someone above spoke of her two terms as governor as "unremarkable." That's a gross overstatement. Her two terms were a disaster. She left virtually no legislative or governmental legacy. She never worked with Republicans; she was incapable. She was a carpetbagger before and after her time in this state.

Were she to run for any statewide office, she'd be trounced.

Evidence: there is an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan next year; vacated by Carl Levin. Granholm won't run for the seat. She no longer lives or works in Michigan, and instead, the Dems will nominate a flaccid and uninspiring candidate, Congressman Gary Peters, for that seat. Peters has twice run for statewide office and lost both times. And with all of that, Peters is no doubt a better nominee than Granholm.; 10/27/13, 1:22 PM
Big Mike said...: How did we get a man on the moon?

The Democrats were a different party a half century ago. I don't know that JFK would have been elected dogcatcher with today's Democrats.; 10/27/13, 1:22 PM
Martin said...: But, he could certainly get in the way and piss off everyone trying to accomplish something... wait, isn't he already doing that?; 10/27/13, 1:24 PM
Martin said...: Chick--I thought people from Michigan were called "Michiganders"; 10/27/13, 1:25 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Three months from now we will hear many many people complaining that they thought they had completed their application but never got a bill and now they have some expensive illness and the taxpayers will have to pick up those tabs. I guarantee it.; 10/27/13, 1:30 PM
Anonymous said...: Big Mike, that's a canard. I suppose I could say Reagan would never have been President in today's right wing purist climate.; 10/27/13, 1:30 PM
Anonymous said...: Martin, because he is an expert on Michigan, of course. ;); 10/27/13, 1:32 PM
Big Mike said...: @Inga, members of the left-wing lunatic fringe keep saying that Reagan would have stood no chance in today's Republican Party. But they're letting their ideology run away with them. You shouldn't trouble yourself to believe that.

But JFK was a cold warrior who believed that you fought your wars to win them. The contrast with today's Democrats could not be more stark.; 10/27/13, 1:36 PM
Anonymous said...: You say tomato, I say tomahto. :); 10/27/13, 1:40 PM
Anonymous said...: I heard Obama's a much better bowler now after practicing in the White House's private alley.

Perhaps he's been taking night courses on programming.; 10/27/13, 1:44 PM
Hagar said...: Bob Woodward has it right again.

The country is on autopilot.

The Obama administration has no idea what all those buttons and blinking lights are for.; 10/27/13, 1:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Aye, the bullshit is thick and deep.; 10/27/13, 1:50 PM
Jason said...: How did we get a man on the moon?

Well, to begin with, we put rocket scientists in charge.

We kept Sebelius the fuck away from the project.

We kept Obama away from the project.

We took almost 10 years.

Politicians by and large kept their filthy hands off of it.

We only put two men on the moon. We didn't try to put 330 million people on the moon at the same time.

And you know what else we did? We fired a whole bunch of test rockets and other less complex missions before we even tried to put someone on the Moon.

How about that, huh?; 10/27/13, 1:51 PM
bandmeeting said...: Inga. You've read a lot of blog posts and comments from conservatives slagging on Reagan?

Didn't think so.; 10/27/13, 1:54 PM
Ken Green said...: Broomhandle has this exactly right: "Liberals think these kind of jokes are cute and endearing." They do not care a whit whether or not anything they do works, or whether or not it's destroying the country, or harming the very constituencies they claim to protect. Liberals believe that anyone who disagrees with them is both stupid and evil, and they are increasingly prone to displaying that attitude on national TV because they think they've rigged the vote enough to hold onto power with no bipartisan support.; 10/27/13, 1:55 PM
n.n said...: The People should file a medical malpractice lawsuit against Obama, Reid et al. The government has misdiagnosed the condition, and has prescribed progressive debt to alleviate symptoms, while exacerbating the underlying causes.

Obamcare is not viable. It is a burden. We need Planned Government. Obama is not ready to accept responsibility for Obamacare. It is merely a clump of policies and should be aborted.; 10/27/13, 1:58 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/27/13, 1:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Bandmeeting,

You've read a lot of blog posts and comments from liberals slagging on Kennedy?

Didn't think so.; 10/27/13, 1:59 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Who cares how mad Obama is?

Spike Lee?; 10/27/13, 2:03 PM
Lydia said...: Inga said…What is the Republican plan?

Well, there was Paul Ryan's states-based The Patient’s Choice Act of 2009; here's a taste:

The Patient's Choice Act would encourage states to establish rational and reasonable consumer protections, including the following:
• Creates State Health Insurance Exchanges to give Americans a one‐stop marketplace to compare different health insurance policies and select the one that meets their unique needs
• Gives Americans the same standard health benefits as Members of Congress, so all Americans have a wide range of choices
• Protects the most vulnerable Americans to ensure that no individual would be turned down by a participating Exchange insurers based on age or health
• Creates a non‐profit, independent board to risk adjust among participating insurance companies to penalize companies that “cherry pick” health patients and reward insurers that encourage prevention/wellness and cover patients with pre‐existing conditions
• Helps States expand coverage through auto‐enrollment at state and medical points of service, for individuals who do not select a plan at the beginning of the year
• Gives states the ability to band together in regional pooling arrangements, as well as the creation of robust high risk pools, reinsurance markets, or risk adjustment mechanisms to cover those deemed ‘uninsurable’

More here.; 10/27/13, 2:09 PM
Chris Lopes said...: It's actually worse than a design problem, it's a requirements issue. If you get the requirements wrong, the design is going to be wrong. If you get the design wrong, the implementation (code writing and testing) is going to be wrong. No amount rewriting the code is going to save you.

In this case, the requirements came from the regulations put in place to implement the law. The law was a compilation of last minute thinking and crappy deals that no one dared to really look at. So you have bad law that begot bad regulations that begot bad requirements that begot bad design that begot bad implementation. It's bad all the way down.; 10/27/13, 2:13 PM
Moneyrunner said...: One of the excuses that the Left has run out is that when Medicare part “D” was introduced there were problems with it too. Because the rollout of “D” was eight years ago and only affected older people so very few of the people commenting on ObamaCare had any personal experience with the “D” rollout.

Let’s go to Jack Hoadley at Georgetown University .

He first notes that the press introduction was delayed because of technical issues, but the public was allowed to access it on November 8, 2005. How did that go?

Visitors to the site could not access it for most of the first two hours. When it finally did come up around 5 p.m., it operated awfully slowly.

During the 2005 signup period for Medicare Part D, the number of daily visitors to the online Plan Finder peaked at about 160,000 for a program that would enroll more people than are expected to enroll under the Affordable Care Act.

Seniors in 2005 were more likely to use the program’s 1-800-Medicare call centers than the online resources, but the daily volume there never exceeded half a million callers. The call centers experienced both dropped calls and frustrating wait times to get through, especially in the first days and weeks.

Glitches continued with the Part D website and call center throughout the open enrollment period. But the program added both phone lines and customer service representatives and implemented other upgrades over the weeks. The website – both its functionality and the accuracy of its information – was the source of ongoing frustration for its users, but it did get better over time.

By the end of open enrollment in May 2006, over 16 million successfully enrolled for drug benefits in Part D (not counting another 6 million automatically enrolled as a result of participation in both Medicare and Medicaid). Initial glitches did not deter their enrollment. And today, Part D enjoys widespread popularity.

So how did that compare to the rollout of ObamaCare? I just tried to access HealthCare.gov and received the message that millions of Americans are getting a month after the biggest government program launch in American history:

The system is down at the moment.

We are experiencing technical difficulties and hope to have them resolved soon. Please try again later.

To compare the Part "D" launch to the ObamaCare rollout is like finding your car with a scratch in the parking lot vs. a head-on collision with a Semi-truck. The Part “D” rollout allowed people to enroll via the Internet and phone, ObamaCare was Internet only. I repeat, you can’t enroll in ObamaCare by phone. All applications have to go through the computer system that doesn't work.

Second, the initial interest was lower for Part “D” than ObamaCare because it was aimed at seniors, not the entire population. However, in the six months following the rollout, 16 million signed up, far exceeding the 7 million expected to sign up for ObamaCare.

So we can conclude that the problems with Part “D” were in no way comparable to the fiasco ObamaCare is experiencing. And that’s just the issue of technology.

Once Part “D’ got rolling it was discovered that the cost was actually BELOW expectations. The cost and adverse selection problems with ObamaCare have yet to be fully seen because so few have actually been able to enroll in the commercial plans, most choosing the Medicare plan. ObamaCare is an actuarial and financial nightmare for anyone who isn’t on life-support or needs a heart transplant RIGHT NOW. Premium increases, deductible increases and coverage for things that the insured doesn't want or need for the healthy middle class who need insurance for medical catastrophes are going to be ruinous. On the other hand, Sandra Fluke is going to get fee birth control pills. That’s worth destroying the health care system to save it, isn’t it?; 10/27/13, 2:25 PM
bandmeeting said...: You got me there Inga. I guess both Kennedy and Raegan would be totally behind this shit-stack of a law.; 10/27/13, 2:28 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: Consider all those bright and well-educated members of the verbal class who voted for Obama and who are now are depressed and dismayed over his incompetence.

I wonder if these folks ever ask themselves how it was they were unable to see what Sarah Palin saw immediately.

Could it be that Sarah Palin is smarter then they are?; 10/27/13, 2:29 PM
Steven said...: Martin -

No, the official demonym is "Michiganian". Check the US Government Printing Office's style guide, for example. Further, it's the polite one; "Michigander" was coined as a deliberate portmanteau insult, and will be taken as such by many Michiganians.

(Oh, and here come Inganorant to dogpile at the suggestion "Michiganian" is wrong.); 10/27/13, 2:38 PM
Hagar said...: The outrage from the millions so far who have had their existing policies cancelled have not yet begun to swell, and there will be a lot more coming as the insurance companies - especially those not in on the making of the stew - begin to figure out all the side effects thay had not thought of yet, and cancel more policies.; 10/27/13, 2:41 PM
Big Mike said...: I think what Inga is trying to say is that Democrats weren't supposed to learn anything from the Medicare Part D rollout. They weren't supposed to learn anything from the problems of Romneycare when they crafted the ACA, and they weren't supposed to learn anything from Medicare Part D.

I guess that's because they're Democrats and they know everything already. Just ask them.; 10/27/13, 2:56 PM
Anonymous said...: 58% prefer the term Michigander, while only 12% Michiganian. I have many relatives in Michigan, I've never heard them refer to themselves as Michiganians.; 10/27/13, 3:00 PM
Anonymous said...: You can make shit up, Michiganders don't have to agree it's true.; 10/27/13, 3:04 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Yes, I know Lawn Chair Larry's feat was 13 years after the first Moon landing, and he's dead, but bear with me here:

If Obama were in charge of landing men on the Moon, he'd hire Lawnchair Larry, find out how much it cost him to ascend 3 miles above Los Angeles with helium balloons and a lawn chair, multiply by 80,000 for the distance to the moon, add a reasonable payment for his time, and ask him to do the job.

Those of us who have any inkling of the problem of scalability are not surprised at the utter failure - you can't even call it a collapse, because that would imply it managed to get a few feet off the ground before it crashed - of Obamacare.; 10/27/13, 3:07 PM
Roy Lofquist said...: Martin, Chick -

Slightly fewer then half of the people who live in Michigan are Michiganders. The rest are Michigeese.; 10/27/13, 3:09 PM
Anonymous said...: What do people who live in Michigan call themselves?

Is someone from Michigan really called a Michigander?; 10/27/13, 3:09 PM
Dr Weevil said...: From Inwood mentions "The Alleged Best & The Alleged Brightest". Someone (it may have been Mark Steyn) once said something like this (I quote from memory): "It would be inaccurate, but not very, to say that Kennedy's advisers were in fact 'The Worst and the Stupidest'."; 10/27/13, 3:10 PM
Dr Weevil said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/27/13, 3:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh looky here, a Republican Michigander!; 10/27/13, 3:13 PM
Dr Weevil said...: I say 'tomato', and if you say 'tomahto' you're either hopelessly pretentious, or ignorant, or both. I don't doubt that Inga says 'tomahto'.; 10/27/13, 3:13 PM
Anonymous said...: No I don't. It's a line from a song Dr. Weevil (I'm sure you know this) used to illustrate that people see things that are really inconsequential differently and argue about it, which is silly. Did that clarify your confusion?

Neither liberals nor conservatives should seriously think that conservatives wouldn't vote for Reagan today, or liberals wouldn't vote for Kennedy today.; 10/27/13, 3:21 PM
Carnifex said...: Inga's response to questions about the HNIC's competence.

1. "Bush did it too!"
2. "Reagan did it too, too"
3. "Squirrel!!"
4. wash, rinse, repeat.

As much as I detest the HNIC I am NOT going to blame the cluster foxtrot of HNICCare on his most august personage.

The HNIC has no clue about how anything works. H just follows Jarrets direction, and "Shuts the hell up, if he knows whats good for him"

He was told to sit down and shut up, the adults were workin...i.e. Pelosi, Reid, and the cabal of Soros lawyers who penned this POS.

The only people less aware of the fecklessness, and lack of serious substance in J-Preezy are the hordes of dummies willing to through their very liberty away on the say so if this complete empty suit.

To all you Leftist Libtards...
I don't care that you're premioms are skyrocketing. I don't care if yje 20 somethings are gonna pay for it. And i think its funny that its so onerous that congress exempts itself, and the libtards don't care.

I pray every day that passes that the GOP will remind these POS's that just a few weeks ago we we're called terrorist, and arsonist, and hostage takers for even suggesting a delay.

And now they are asking for our help?!? To fix this?!?

Eat your shit sandwich and shut the hell up. You wanted it, now you eat it.; 10/27/13, 3:25 PM
Anonymous said...: Wow Carnifex, that's was um.....impressive.; 10/27/13, 3:27 PM
Dr Weevil said...: I am of course well aware that "you say tomato, I say tomahto" is a line from a song: I just think Inga's the kind of [person] who would use a song as a license to go around asking for 'tomahtos' at the grocery store and farmers' market and being oblivious to the reaction such a silly and (to put it bluntly) wrong pronunciation would inspire.

Just as she's the kind of [person] who thinks that Kennedy's and Reagan's actual policies would be equally damaging to their chances of getting nominated by their respective parties today if they were young enough to run, and eligible (in Reagan's case) for a 3rd term, and - most important - alive.; 10/27/13, 3:29 PM
William said...: Unlike Obama, JFK was flexible and pragmatic in his policy decisions. He was willing to turn on a Diem in Vietnam.; 10/27/13, 3:30 PM
Strelnikov said...: Like all good fellators, Granholm knows that Obama is the best at everything.; 10/27/13, 3:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Dr. Weevil, that deduction is just plain silly. Tata, I must run along now and turn my delicious tomahtoes into tomahto bisque (fancy schmancy cream of tomato soup for high fallutin' folks).; 10/27/13, 3:39 PM
John Cunningham said...: Yeah, that idiot Sarah Palin understood Comrade Urkel better than academic geniuses like Althouse and beltway brains like that dolt David Brooks. the HNIC is a NIC.; 10/27/13, 3:43 PM
Lydia said...: William said...
Unlike Obama, JFK was flexible and pragmatic in his policy decisions.

JFK also had the decency to acknowledge mistakes:"When, at the end of 1961, [senior aide Theodore] Sorensen informed him that a number of reporters were planning books on his first year in office, Kennedy was despairing. 'Who would want to read a book on disasters?' he asked."

Can’t imagine Obama ever saying, let alone thinking, anything like that.; 10/27/13, 3:47 PM
Hagar said...: Inga,
You do know that Jack Kennedy ran on a platform of "economy in Government" and "closing the missile gap," don't you?; 10/27/13, 4:01 PM
Michael K said...: Inga is always amusing as long as you know her opinions are parody.

"Multiple studies have shown that the economic benefit for seniors was negligible so those of us who saw it as an obvious vote getter for Repubs"

I disagree. Part D was an attempt, that has largely succeeded, to remedy a weakness in Medicare design. In 1965, few effective drugs existed. Cardiac drugs were mostly digitalis and quinidine plus hydrochlorthiazide for blood pressure.

The first powerful diuretic came in 1967 with ethacrynic acid. Lasix came later.

By 2003, it was apparent that Medicare was too focused on procedures and needed to change focus to drugs.

I am not a fan of Medicare or Part D but it was a rational decision.

The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan were also rational choices, whether or not they were worth the cost.

Obamacare was not a rational choice. We could have solved the pre-existing condition problem and the uninsured problem without destroying everybody else's health care.; 10/27/13, 4:09 PM
George M. Spencer said...: May 1961: JFK says the United States will put a man on the Moon by 1970 and return him safely.

February 1962: John Glenn is the first American to orbit the earth.

March 1965: First manned Gemini flight.

October 1968: First manned Apollo flight

July 1969: Third grader Barack Obama watches Moon landing from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Draw your own connections, conspiracy seekers.; 10/27/13, 4:11 PM
Hyphenated American said...: "Barry, no kidding it's complex. We as Americans can do complex things. Really, how did we ever get a man on the moon? How was Amazon set up? Is it magic that these things we think we can't do actually eventually are conquered and done well? "

JFK promised to put the man on the moon, and in less than 8 years we succeeded. During Obama administration, the plan to fly to the moon was cancelled because according to Obama official, nasa could not send a man to the moon in 10 years no matter how much money was spent. On other words, 50 years later, NASA is less technologically capable.
And one more thing, amazon did not use you, nag to set up its system, not dd it use Obama and his ilk. They, amazon engineers did the work, not you. Stop using the word " we" when describing what other people did.; 10/27/13, 4:28 PM
Nate Whilk said...: Inga said, "Big Mike, that's a canard." 10/27/13, 1:30 PM

Oh, really? From JFK's inaugural: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

ANY Democrat who said anything like that would be accused by other Democrats as being a warmonger.

At least back then Democrats still loved the USA.; 10/27/13, 4:46 PM
Nate Whilk said...: Also from JFK's inaugural: "To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends."

In this respect, obama is the anti-JFK.; 10/27/13, 4:49 PM
Andrew_M_Garland said...: If only Obama were in a position of power and authority, he could have reviewed the work of the cabinet secretaries and prevented this debacle from happening.

As it is, he can only object to the system which GWBush set up, the system which is continuing to disable America.

Someday, we should elect him President. Then, we can have hope that he will change politics in Washington, reduce expense, and expose waste.

We can only dream. The call must go out: Support Obama for President!

EasyOpinions; 10/27/13, 4:52 PM
wildswan said...: I think Republicans should be developing a plan to deal with the failure of Obamacare. And Senator Ron Johnson has made a start - he has brought forward a law called "If you like your plan you can keep it."
So
IF YOU LIKE YOUR PLAN YOU CAN KEEP IT.
1. Get rid of the provisions in Obamacare which make low cost insurance illegal.
2. Allow seniors to keep Advantage plans. These plans were abolished to fund Obamacare.

Then require Healthcare.gov screens have lines where you can enter your current deductibles etc. and then the screen compares the new plan with the old. AND IF YOU LIKE YOUR PLAN YOU CAN KEEP IT.

Then require the HHS Secretary to explain what is coming down the road.
1. How will the death panels work - meaning what are you going to call them, who will staff them, what are the criteria? Above all, will minorities will disproportionately affected? As far as I can determine the quality of life criteria include likely age at death so that racial groups now living longer will have that disparity baked into the selection process which will increase the disparity. The same is true of smoking, obesity and using drugs - as far as I can determine they lower your quality of life score and make you a more likely candidate for an early appointment withe death panel. Will these criteria increase or decrease present inequities affecting minorities?

And there are other issues - preventive medicine is going to depend on behavior change and the the new eugenics, biodemography, is running the NIH programs on behavior and behavior change. People argue about calling someone a Nazi - introducing eugenics into medicine is what the Nazis did. So I think eugenics shouldn't be led into American medicine by the back door as is now happening.
Obama will stop that? Obama cares? - I didn't build that website (he says) and he'll say the same about the rest.; 10/27/13, 4:52 PM
Annie said...: The notion that he'd select himself as the supervisor of an activity about which he lacks any expertise only heightens our suspicion that he's been selecting the wrong people all along.

Same with democrats/bureaucrats/billionaire socialists thinking they can take over and run healthcare.

But it isn't about healhcare, is it?; 10/27/13, 5:03 PM
Rusty said...: Jesus, Inga. Give it a rest.
You got the job.
You can be the head greeter when the boxcars full of victims pull into the siding.; 10/27/13, 5:34 PM
Hagar said...: Enjoyed just seeing a clip on Fox News Sunday of Obama going on about his ACA with Jon Corzine's smiling face over his left shoulder.
Just seems fitting somehow, Corzine being the guy who "mislaid" 1.6 billion of his clients' money, can't remember where, and nothing has been done about it yeat as far as I know.; 10/27/13, 5:35 PM
cubanbob said...: It's official folks. We have now seen Obama fuck up a liberal wet dream. The Dude is awesome!

On a more serious note expect the lawsuits challenging ZeroCare as a tax comming to a theater near you soon.; 10/27/13, 5:38 PM
cubanbob said...: @wildswan you maybe on to something. Insurance companies as it stands today must be licensed to sell their policies in each state they do business in and each state dictates what they must offer. Just exactly where does the Federal Government get the authority to mandate what the policies must offer when that is a state issue? Presumably one state may challenge the ACA mandate as a state issue when enough of its residents get their current policies cancelled as non-conforming to the ACA.

I suppose another challenge on tax issues might come as people file their taxes using the deductions they would normally be entitled to, pay the taxes and then file a supplemental return seeking a tax refund for the tax/premium paid under the premise that the SCOTUS ruled that the premiums are in fact a tax.; 10/27/13, 5:49 PM
Hagar said...: How many of those whose policies are being canceled as being "inadequate" according to the AHCA, dcide to just go without then?

How many are in the 80%, or so, that sign up for Medicaid, i.e. welfare, on the exchanges rather than with private insurance companies?

Could many insurance companies get into financial trouble for lack of customers due to this mess?; 10/27/13, 6:02 PM
Paul said...: I never considered the possibility the problem with the website was Obama trying to code ASP.NET himself.

But it DOES explain alot, right?

I bet he tripped up on SQL and did the wrong joins.; 10/27/13, 6:40 PM
Michael K said...: "Then require Healthcare.gov screens have lines where you can enter your current deductibles etc. and then the screen compares the new plan with the old. AND IF YOU LIKE YOUR PLAN YOU CAN KEEP IT."

This won't work. Private health insurance is over. The employer base will stagger on for a year but the individual market is done. Lefties don't understand that insurance companies DID NOT WANT THIS BUSINESS. They hate the "rich insurance companies."

They don't understand insurance, like so much else of economics. The principle of insurance is based on time. I pay my premiums on my life insurance and 20 or 50 years later, my heirs collect the policy benefit, which may equal my premiums all those years.

The insurance company bet I would live long enough for them to invest my premiums and get enough return to make a profit even though the payout was as much as the total paid in.

Health insurance is different. There is no time factor. Premiums come in and benefits go out in a short cycle; far too short to earn investment returns. What we have had for 50 years is pre-paid care. The premium goes in and the payout goes out in the same cycle.

Employers pay the bills and the insurance company merely does the accounting for a fee. They thought Obamacare would be the same deal, only with more money. It isn't.

The individual market has no time factor to earn investment income from premiums. It is NOT insurance. They want no part of it and they now have a perfect excuse to shed the fictional concept. It will not come back.

Employer benefits may last longer but the fabled 26 year old is not going to stay on the parents' insurance because it will not exist. Families are being dropped.

What is probably coming is a cash market plus real insurance, the reform we should have had. The poor can all go on Medicaid and see how much they like harsh rationing. Medicare will be destroyed but I will probably be dead by the time it crashes.

It is a real life example of the gods of the copybook headings .

"As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! "; 10/27/13, 7:07 PM
Kelly said...: Inga, Medicare part d wasn't aimed at the entire population. It was aimed at seniors, most of whom were never going to enroll using the internet. I don't even remember hearing about "glitches, just something about a donut hole, whatever that was. Who cares anyway? It wasn't like they were being kicked out of Medicare, just not getting their free or subsidized goodies.; 10/27/13, 7:13 PM
Kelly said...: Inga, Medicare part d wasn't aimed at the entire population. It was aimed at seniors, most of whom were never going to enroll using the internet. I don't even remember hearing about "glitches, just something about a donut hole, whatever that was. Who cares anyway? It wasn't like they were being kicked out of Medicare, just not getting their free or subsidized goodies.; 10/27/13, 7:21 PM
Lydia said...: More along the lines of what wildswan said above at 4:52 about dealing with the failure of Obamacare -- Jennifer Rubin at the Wash. Post suggests "Let the Democrats be the party for Obamacare; the Republicans can be the party for the victims of Obamacare":

"Republicans would be wise to offer refuge to those millions who have been or shortly will be kicked off coverage, who have coverage costs go up under Obamacare and/or who are suffering a gap in coverage because of the administration’s incompetence. James Capretta [at the Weekly Standard] suggests:

'The GOP can strengthen its hand further by moving legislation to protect people who are losing their individual plans. Many millions of these currently insured Americans have already received or will be receiving soon notices from their insurers advising them of the termination of their existing plans, effective January 1. Insurers are halting these plans because Obamacare’s rules won’t let them continue to offer coverage (even outside the exchanges) under today’s rules, which generally allow lower premiums for younger and healthier consumers. But with healthcare.gov nearly impossible to navigate, individual market enrollees are losing their current plans without access to a viable alternative. And the clock is ticking. Those losing their coverage on January 1 will need to have a new plan in place by December 15 to ensure no lapse in coverage. And many would no doubt prefer to have a new plan picked sooner, to be on the safe side.'

The GOP should come to their rescue with legislation allowing insurers to continue to offer the same plans they are offering today. Some insurers may choose not to reopen plans they have already decided to close, but others will likely resurrect their closed plans. If healthcare.gov’s problems persist into November, as they almost certainly will, legislation of this kind will have great resonance with an anxious electorate.

Let the Democrats be the party for Obamacare; the Republicans can be the party for the victims of Obamacare, who are almost certain to outnumber the beneficiaries."; 10/27/13, 7:41 PM
Steven said...: So, Inga, your opinion is that Jennifer Granholm must be ignorant of Michigan, given that during her two terms in office as governor of Michigan she consistently used "Michiganian" rather than "Michigander" to refer to residents of the state?; 10/27/13, 7:50 PM
Tarrou said...: 1: It's Michigander. Only a shit-for-brains carpetbagger* would call us "michiganians".

2: *See Jennifer Granholm, more hated than Kwami Kilpatrick, dumber than a sack of hammers, universally loathed in the state she drove to the brink of bankruptcy.; 10/27/13, 8:54 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: But is he stamping his foot? Pounding his desk? Perhaps tearing his clothing and heaping ashes on his head? Or sitting on an ash heap in a circle with his cabinet members?

I must know precisely how angry he is to figure out how assuaged I must be.; 10/27/13, 8:55 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I wonder how he would supervise coding.

"Type faster!"
"Use proper syntax!"
"Logic! Logic!"

Maybe he could rotate through those orders, delivering them emphatically, and hope for the best.; 10/27/13, 8:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Maybe he could rotate through those orders, delivering them emphatically, and hope for the best.

Obama would not like to see coding done. It doesn't match the Liberal Diversity world view. Far to many white males and Asians...; 10/27/13, 9:01 PM
Paul said...: Obama code a website.... isn't that above his pay grade?; 10/27/13, 9:31 PM
Joe C. said...: Barack supervised the development of Stuxnet, you know. He could have written all 15,000 lines of code by himself, but he didn't want to show up those professional coders.; 10/27/13, 9:35 PM
Anonymous said...: "1: It's Michigander. Only a shit-for-brains carpetbagger* would call us "michiganians"."

10/27/13, 8:54 PM

Steven, heh.; 10/27/13, 10:26 PM
Scientific Socialist said...: Speaking of lame, you can't beat "Meet the Depressed" and Jennifer Granholm, whose rockstar status among Dems and the MSM is belied by her disastrous tenure as Michigan Governor during which the state achieved record debt, taxes, unemployment, and exodos of both people and businesses.; 10/27/13, 10:46 PM
Chase said...: Let us tell the truth. Jennifer Granholm was a terrible governor and she is seriously deficient to the point of near incompetence as a pundit.
Let us again tell the truth. Jennifer Granholm has her position because she is a blond pretty set of tits. And that is the heartbreaking truth.; 10/28/13, 12:59 AM
MayBee said...: Why do people think you can't go bankrupt due to illness in a single payer country?

I live in the UK. I see ads for insurance companies protecting against that very thing all the time.

They don't pay for everything, for one. And two, if you can't work, the NHS isn't going to pay your bills for you.

As for Medicare Part D, Obama spent his first three years in office running against how it was bankrupting the country.; 10/28/13, 1:19 AM
Rusty said...: Lydia @ 7:41

Also a good time to enact portability.; 10/28/13, 5:55 AM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: 'Inga' word count is up to 40.
(41 counting the above sentence.); 10/28/13, 7:21 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: Granholm fancies herself as some sort of feminist, I'm sure, but seems to delight in the patriarchal remonstration of Daddy Obama threatening to pull the car over and teach those insolent kids a lesson.; 10/28/13, 8:03 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: Can't everyone just leave Obama alone? He's got a memoir to write while he's in office, and he's only got 3 more years to get the manuscript to his publisher.; 10/28/13, 8:04 AM
RecChief said...: Think about it, Obama is always a victim in this Administration. never knows what's going on, always finds out about it reading it in the papers, etc etc etc. there was a good piece written on this phenomenon just a few days ago, can't remember who wrote it but google 'Obama is always a victim'; 10/28/13, 8:54 AM
Rusty said...: RecChief said...
Think about it, Obama is always a victim in this Administration. never knows what's going on, always finds out about it reading it in the papers, etc etc etc. there was a good piece written on this phenomenon just a few days ago, can't remember who wrote it but google 'Obama is always a victim'

Kinda a dumbass, then huh.; 10/28/13, 8:56 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Love how President Obama is mad all the time any more about how his government is screwing up. Really going to solve the problems that way. Might have done a bit better if he had been engaged all along, had been trying to manage his government, instead of being off playing golf and fund raising, letting his government run on autopilot.

Being mad seems to be Obama's equivalent to Clinton's feeling our pain. It is a purely emotional response that is supposed to get him off the hook for his government screwing up. But, as with the other times that he has said this, nothing will happen. No heads will roll. Just get shuffled and quietly promoted elsewhere. He is trying to convince us that he is on our side, totally oblivious that the disaster(s) happened on his watch. He is

As with all of this, the big question is why he is playing golf, shooting hoops, fund raising, and hanging around with celebrities while Rome burns and his government runs on autopilot. Why are the American people giving him all the perks, the big house, private 747s, helicopters, servants, bands that play his private tribute song whenever he enters the room, etc, when all he does is get mad whenever his government screws up, which seems to be more and more often these days? Maybe it is time for the U.S. to move to the type of divided government that most other major democracies (and some pretend ones like Russia and Iran) have, which have a President (or monarch) to deal with other heads of government, and a Prime Minister to run the government. He might make a good president under that type of system, but makes the worst Prime Minister in our memories.

Finally - in response to Inga's statement about Part D - the reason that it is different, and so much worse this time is that individuals are going to have to sign up by 12/15 in order to avoid paying the individual mandate fine/tax, and they mostly cannot do it right now. Sure, if their income is low enough that they qualify for Medicaid, they might be able to sign up for that - almost all of the new signups through healthcare.gov so far have been for Medicaid, and not for the exchanges. Meanwhile millions of individual plans are being cancelled, throwing those people on the exchanges, if the web site would only work, because their current plans don't meet the prescribed criteria, and, in particular, don't cover stuff that the policyholders don't like, or have too high of deductibles, in order to keep the premiums down, etc. Republicans, of course, wanted to delay the individual mandate for another year, but that was rejected by President Obama and Sen. Reid, who apparently think that it is better to fine people for failing to acquire insurance that they cannot obtain due to the healthcare.gov failure, presumably because they just didn't want to give the Republicans in general, and Tea Party in particular, a win. Bottom line - this failure means that millions of Americans will no longer have health insurance, but will have to pay the fine because they couldn't obtain it. That was never the case with Part D.; 10/28/13, 10:04 AM
Dan said...: Only Jennifer "Matt Millen of Governors" Granholm would call us Michiganians. For those who don't know who Millen is, he took over a 9-7 Detroit Lions team as GM and went 31-84.

Signed:

4th Generation Michigander; 10/30/13, 9:20 PM