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Obama: GOP Also to Blame for Obamacare Rollout Disaster

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President Obama Tuesday sought to tie Republicans to the massive failure of the Obamacare rollout, suggesting that their opposition to Obamacare somehow made things worse.

Obama, who grumbled that Republicans aren’t “invested” in Obamacare’s success, spoke during a meeting of CEOs in Washington:

We should have anticipated that that would create a rockier rollout than if Democrats and Republicans were both invested in success.

One of the problems we’ve had is one side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure, and that makes, I think, the kind of iterative process of fixing glitches as they come up and fine-tuning the law more challenging.

The incompetent rollout has mostly been linked to the failure of the website Healthcare.gov. It’s not clear how Republicans contributed to the technical problems that have plagued the site.

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74 Responses to Obama: GOP Also to Blame for Obamacare Rollout Disaster

  2. Uh–not “invested” bec we think it’s a bad concept–if you have to FORCE people to do something, there must be something wrong with it.

    And…cue music…today on Morning Joe, our delightful, puckish Steve Ratner, WSJ gazillionaire and former Obama flack or czar, again downplays people who would be affected by the law. He somehow says 4 million…and get this, he says people in the individual market only stay there a short time–what about the growing class of self-employed, remember them? And…next year, the millions thrown off employer plans? Also–MJ did not mention how the payment plan part of the site has yet to be built so all this is moot anyhow…

  4. Surprise, surprise, surprise. It’s all on you Obama, Obamacare is you and you own it, period.
    I feel sorry for all the people who will not have insurance come January because of you Obama, do you feel bad? Doubt it…Single Payer to the rescue anyone?

    • What was his first clue that they weren’t invested?

      That not one of them voted for the thing, ever?

      That many of them were voted in because the democrat from the area was ejected because they voted FOR obamacare?

      • Scottso,When I saw that clip last night on TV I was just shocked at how he could even try to hang this flop on the republicans. Your point is straight on. He keeps pointing the finger, but is in a 4 roomed wall only containing mirrors.

  6. Obama said just the other day about the website and his responsibility.

    “And, you know, that’s on me.”

    Now it is the other party!

    this man is IMMORAL! He has no moral basis from which to work.

  8. Remember when Obama said “I won” that first time he met with Republicans? He didn’t care what they had to say. Now he wants to blame everyone but himself. What a putz! No insult meant to putzes!

  9. Everyone knows that since the TEA Party has some of the best and brightest, those tech savvy TEA Partiers hacked the system while it was being designed and built, and inserted malicious code that would render the site unusable.

    This was all done at the behest of GW Bush, Cheney, and the vast right wing conspiracy that has dominated US politics since the days of Billy Clinton.

    There is no need to look at the failed policies, ill-conceived philosophies, or just plain stupid ideologies that the left/Progressives have been pushing for nearly a hundred years. There is nothing behind the curtain, nor in the heads of these ideologues.

  10. The last sentence quoted: “One of the problems……..ITERATIVE PROCESS………… fine-tuning the law………”

    My research shows that “iterative process” means repeating something to make a point. That’s not a phrase commonly used in polite company, and one that no one outside the geek community would use, ever.
    If anything, MrO’s “iterative” of claiming “you can keep…., period” was not a good thing for him or the ACA’s future. That “process” is probably not what he was referencing.

    And more; what the heck is he talking about “fine-tuning” the law? Is there a new surprise awaiting the public as the HHS fine-tunes our future? Good grief, the cake is baked and it’s too late to add the sugar.
    re: blaming the Repubs
    Not surprising. That had to be the plan all along when they realized that the website was a dud and millions of people would lose their current insurance. It’s too bad that the Repubs don’t have the same public forum as MrO enjoys.

    • He says all it needs is a “rebranding.” Yes, yet another failure to communicate (apologies to Cool Hand Luke). Maybe a tagline…

      Seriously…this one works.
      So good you will want it.
      Anticipating needs you didn’t know you had.
      It’s only money–we are talking about your health here.
      There’s no cure for stupid, but we will cover everything else…period.

    • srdm, you are right: “iterative” is primarily a web development word. I read or hear it about 10 times a day at work. and the minute I heard Obama say it I KNEW someone had been providing him with tech jargon so he would sound like he knew what he was talking about.

      expect to also hear about bandwidth, information architecture, and other phrases Obama won’t understand either.

  13. Somewhere on the mean streets of Chicago a community is missing its organizer. Saul Alinsky has worn out his welcome in D.C. Obamacare is the political equivalent of the Edsel. Ford Motor Co. stopped the rollout and cut it’s losses. Obama is no Henry Ford. But he is the laughingstock of the world.

  15. Obama’s statement blaming the Republicans for HIS failure is exactly why they should not go anywhere near this toxic mess.
    Stay away, let it continue to sink on it’s own.

    • If only the Republican leadership would follow your advice. They already tried to pull his bacon out of the fire by codifying his edict to the insurance companies to continue cancelled policies. We can always depend on the Republican leadership to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I hope they prove me wrong…

    • He didn’t say exactly how the Republicans had doomed his project–I assume they just made him so darn sad he didn’t listen when they told him the thing would not work!!! Told him months ago…

  16. Let’s face it–they didn’t build that (website). When they say it needs to be fixed–no! It needs to be built–up to 70% of it. Built or finished–but not “fixed” like it’s some la-de-dah section of bad code that needs a patch or something.

    • No kidding. That he now has to use, as his only defense, the sneering, condescending “didn’t build that” line, is an irony that’s sweeter than tiramisu.

  18. He REALLY should have gone to Gettysburg. If Gettysburg hadn’t happened, the only way he’d get on a golf course today would be as a groundskeeper, but that’s another discussion. Where was I?

    Ah, yes.

    Going to Gettysburg and looking presidential would be a much, MUCH more effective way of yelling “Squirrel!” than saying it’s the Republicans’ fault.

    Sorry, Barry, your “Blame the GOP” card is getting declined by a public that’s onto you now. So either pay cash or get out.

    • All those dead Union soldiers had more to do with liberating African-Americans than all of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Malcolm X, Farakhan, Alinsky, Ayers and Wright put together, yet he couldn’t be bothered to haul his skinny butt out there to pay tribute to them.

      • Yes, and when you go there and see those rolling pastures and remember it was a steamy July day–thousands spewing their insides, blood everywhere, a complete mess…all for a cause that both sides felt strongly about, let’s face it–it is quite a picture. When you are there, you can really imagine the heat, the thirst, the horrible injuries, the carnage, brother against brother.

        • I was there many, many years ago, and I remember it being so picturesque that it was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

          If that makes any sense.

        • I grew up right up the road from Shiloh, so I got my exposure to a national monument to blood, guts and gore from an earlier age.

          The men on my father’s side joined the Union forces in Kentucky. The army wouldn’t take my great-great grandfather because he was too young, so he told the Yankees to kiss his ass, and went to fight for the South.

  20. Memo to Obama:

    House vote on ACA, 2010: 219-212, and the 219 were all Democrats. There were zero Republican votes in favor.

    Senate vote on ACA, 2010: 60-39 with one no vote. All Democrats voting in favor, zero Republicans

    BUT BUT BUT it’s the Republican’s fault!!!

    • The Dems went so far as changing the locks on conference-room doors in order to keep Republican elected representatives out of the legislative process.

      Now those same Republicans are supposed to be “invested” in the “success” of the legislation they were shut out of? Yeah, right.

  21. Next week’s talking point will be that ObamaCare is collapsing because the ghost of James Buchanan is haunting the software. Just wait. It’s coming.

  23. Has he now lost his mind? His cronies under Harry Red and Nancy
    Pelosi changed the lock to keep Republicans from participating!
    Now he wants to BLAME them? Amazing that he did not blame
    Presiden Bush.