NBC's Michael O'Brien had some fun yesterday paraphrasing President Obama's latest infliction on the ears of America: "Obama said his signature health care reform law is going nowhere as long as he's in office."
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Obama gives a health-care speech. He just keeps giving and giving and giving. Associated Press
"Going nowhere" could mean either "here to stay" or "unable to progress." A look at the text of the president's remarks makes clear, as if you have any doubt, that he means it in the former sense: "We're not repealing it as long as I'm president, and I want everybody to be clear about that. . . . We're not going to walk away from it." I'm not a crook. I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
At least in the very short term, he appears to be right. National Journal reports that although "House Democrats are hardly ready to pop the champagne for HealthCare.gov . . . tensions eased Tuesday after White House officials briefed them on the site's progress." Party leaders "said they were 'pleased' with improvements in the site's user experience, and declared that they were back on offense over the Affordable Care Act."
The Nov. 30 deadline was followed by a spate of news stories, editorials and columns attesting that the "website"--which, of course, is only the tip of the iceberg that is ObamaCare's computer system--had been "fixed," or at least "improved." The former is plainly not true; even the latter, highly dubious.
Charles Ornstein of ProPublica.org watched "a glowing news conference" Sunday, and on Monday "decided to log . . . and take the Web site for a test drive." It wasn't going anywhere: Ornstein experienced "long delays loading pages, an endless circle of tasks (some already completed) and ultimately an error message." He supplies screen shots and a transcript of a live-chat help session that goes on for nine minutes before a customer-service rep called "Kassie" tells him to try back later. When he does, "I couldn't even log on."
Reader Alan Auerbach--who is actually trying to purchase insurance, not just test the system--sends along his own live chat (quoting verbatim):
[2:19:35 pm]: Thanks for contacting Health Insurance Marketplace Live Chat. Please wait while we connect you to someone who can help.
[2:19:39 pm]: Please be patient while we're helping other people.
[2:20:15 pm]: Please be patient while we're helping other people.
[2:20:22 pm]: Welcome! You're now connected to Health Insurance Marketplace Live Chat.
Thanks for contacting us. My name is Dipika. To protect your privacy, please don't provide any personal information, like Social Security Number, or any other sensitive medical or personal information.
[2:20:36 pm]: Dipika
Welcome to the Health Insurance Marketplace Live Chat, my name is Dipika, how may I help you?
[2:21:20 pm]: Alan
Since Sunday, I have been unable to logon. I am certain that I am using the correct Username and Password. I have cleared the browsing history and cookies. I have rebooted. I have tried using three different computers and five different browsers with three different operating systems. Each time I select Log In, I am sent right back to the Log In page.
[2:22:37 pm]: Dipika
I apologize for the inconvenience.
[2:23:20 pm]: Alan
Thank you. How may I log into my account?
[2:25:15 pm]: Dipika
Our website was under maintenance. So may be that was the reason you were not able to log in. It is working fine right now but I am not sure why its not letting you log in if you have used every troubleshooting measures.
[2:26:11 pm]: Alan
Is it under maintenance now? I have been trying to log in for the last hour. I keep getting returned to the log in page.
[2:27:13 pm]: Alan
Yesterday, I read in the newspapers that the problems with the site were fixed so I have been trying to access my account. I have failed many, many times.
[2:28:58 pm]: Dipika
Yes the site is functioning well now but I apologize that its still giving you glitches. If you like, we can help you complete a Marketplace application right now over the phone. And you can try getting back to your account sometime later today.
[2:30:50 pm]: Alan
I have done that twice (plus the account I created online) and been promised letters and/or calls within two days or two weeks. In seven weeks, I have received neither. Doing that again seems a waste of time. Better if I could access my account. Can you help with that?
[2:31:19 pm]: Alan
Time is running out for me.
[2:31:56 pm]: Dipika
I completely understand your frustration.
[2:32:31 pm]: Alan
I am not frustrated. I am simply trying to move forward. All I want to know now is whether you can help with that.
[2:33:31 pm]: Alan
Can you answer either yes or no so that I can do other things?
[2:33:41 pm]: Dipika
If you have already tried clearing browser history and cookies and also used different browsers, there is nothing I could do to help you at this moment.
[2:34:03 pm]: Alan
OK. Thank you. Goodbye.
[2:34:26 pm]: Dipika
But we are available to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-318-2596 and we can't continue with your application.
That "can't" in the signoff message must be a typo. Or maybe a Freudian slip. It appears Auerbach's efforts aren't going anywhere.
Incidentally, your humble columnist received a phone call from ObamaCare yesterday. We arrived at home to find a message on our answering machine that began: "Hello, this is an important message for you from the Health Insurance Marketplace Call Center. We need more information to complete your application . . ."
At first we thought it was a telemarketing scam, but it appears to be legit (though maybe that's a false distinction). The "calling" number was in fact 800-318-2596. We then remembered we'd called the number a few times in October just to see if we could get through. When we finally did, we got someone on the phone and spent a few minutes asking her questions such as how many people she'd signed up and whether people were actually completing the process of getting insurance via phone (the answer to the latter question was no).
We didn't give her any personal information, including our phone number, so they must just have been logging all calls using caller ID and now are doing mass callbacks. That seems both inefficient and a bit creepy.
Now we must confess, political events around ObamaCare are moving a bit more slowly than we'd expected. We thought that as the Nov. 30 deadline approached and it became clear that the system would not even be technically functional, congressional Democrats would panic and all hell would break loose.
Instead, the administration seems to have bought--or stolen--itself a bit more time. It did so by gradually scaling back its promise from fully functional to kinda functional for many during off-peak hours. Not that it met even the latter standard, but the lower standard was by definition easier to meet, while its vagueness made it much more difficult to say definitively that it hadn't been met.
Enough journalists are still willing to act as shills for this administration (even if their submission is not quite as abject as Paul Waldman and Tim Noah would like) that the "meeting" of the "deadline" generated a spate of positive stories. That allowed congressional Democrats--or at least House Democrats from safe districts--to declare themselves "back on offense," as National Journal reported.
Of course those weren't the Democrats anyone expected to defect. Rather, the ones to watch are the ones in the Senate, especially those up for re-election next year, and especially those from states Mitt Romney carried. We did a Google News search for "ObamaCare" with the name of each of the four senators who meet all those criteria--Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Kay Hagan of North Carolina--and it appears mum's the word for all four.
Why? For the same reason each of them cast the deciding vote in favor of ObamaCare. Because while supporting a monstrous and unpopular policy is politically risky, so is dissenting from the party line. By defining down its deadline and taking advantage of the still-servile subset of the press corps, Obama heightened the immediate risks of dissent and made assent seem the safer course.
For the moment. There are more deadlines to come, and, in both senses, ObamaCare is going nowhere.