It is hard to find the words to describe it. On The Daily Show, talking to a critical demographic with respect to Obamacare, the HHS secretary was so incoherent, so incapable of even basic reasoning, so tied to exhausted talking points, so unable to concede, let alone explain, error, that she would be fired if she were a spokesperson for a minor member of Congress. And yet she is allegedly in charge of the most important domestic policy initiative of this administration and has presided over a rolling disaster in terms of its critical first week.
Dish readers have done a better job at explaining the huge snafus on the various Obamacare websites. (And The Daily Show – see above – might want to get in a defensive crouch on malfunctioning websites since its own clip of Sebelius is currently as unavailable as Obamacare’s). Today we got a better explanation:
The technical problems that have hampered enrollment in the online health insurance exchanges resulted from the failure of a major software component, designed by private contractors, that crashed under the weight of millions of users last week, federal officials said Monday.
Why was she incapable of saying that?
Why was she incapable of explaining the huge crush of demand or the fact that 32 states refused to cooperate, making the feds’ task that much more difficult? Why could she offer no plausible reason for why corporations with over 50 employees got an extra year to comply, while individuals don’t? This was a very friendly media environment, and she was given acres of time to give even a small explanation. And she was worse than useless.
Part of an official’s job is to be able to be accountable to the public for failures, to help explain them, to give an idea of how they are going to be addressed. She failed. Another part of an official’s job is to make sure that critical programs under her jurisdiction run smoothly – especially when they are as critical as Obamacare. She has failed at that as well. Why is the president content with that kind of grotesque incompetence and lack of accountability? And when will she be fired?
The Dish 