So let what Peggy Noonan is writing be done:
We should not lose The Headline in the day-to-day headlines. This is big history, not small. The ObamaCare rollout is a disaster for the White House, not a problem or a challenge or an embarrassment, not a gaffe or a bad few weeks. It is a political disaster, and the only question is whether it is partially recoverable, meaning the system can be made to work in a generally satisfactory way in the next few weeks. But—it has to be repeated—they had 3½ years after passage of the Affordable Care Act to make the program into something the American people could register for and feel they were benefiting from. Three and a half years! They had a long-declared start date: It would all go live Oct. 1, 2013, and everyone in the government, every contractor and consultant, knew it.
The president put the meaning of his presidency into the program—it informally carries his name, it is his brand. It was unveiled with great fanfare, and it didn't work. For almost anybody. Crashed systems, frozen screens, phone registration that prompted you back to the site that sent you to the 800 number, like a high-tech Möbius strip.
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.
So you'd think it would sort of work. And it didn't. Which is a disaster.
Even though it's huge, and those who are reporting the story every day are, by and large, seasoned and have seen a few things, no one seems to know how it will end. Because it's new territory. Does anyone believe the whole technological side can be fixed quickly? No. The president may eventually accept a brief delay in implementation—it is almost unbelievable that he will not—but does anyone think that the economics of the ACA, the content as set out and expressed on the sites, will flow smoothly, coherently, and fully satisfy the objectives of expanding health-insurance coverage while lowering its cost? You might believe that, but early reports of sticker shock, high deductibles and canceled coverage are not promising. Does anyone think the president will back off and delay the program for enough time not only to get the technological side going but seriously improve the economics? No. So we're not only in the middle of a political disaster, we're in the middle of a mystery. What happens if this whole thing continues not to work? What do we do then?
What indeed. Obama has invested his Presidency on this so I don't see it just going away. And his psychophantic allies in the media will ensure one resurrection after another for ObamaCare.
The hope, if this thing can't be done away with in its entirety, is that it will give way to something beneficial for those who actually need it.
But that hope, at this juncture, seems so very far away.
