The Other McCain

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The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats

Posted on | November 7, 2013 | 43 Comments

Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Skull” alert to a quote from a Washington Post article about the ObamaCare botch that had been included in a summary by Megan McArdle at Bloomberg.

On Twitter last night, Ace seemed genuinely astonished by this. But really, who had any illusions that a bunch of liberal bureaucrats were competent to be trusted with the implementation of such a thing?

Here’s one quote from McArdle’s summary:

The memo [from David Cutler to Larry Summers in September 2010] is eerily prophetic: The key people were analysts with no experience in project management, technology, startups or the insurance business; responsibility was too diffused; the staff didn’t understand either the magnitude or the urgency of what they had taken on; and neither the Department of Health and Human Services nor the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to which most of the job had been delegated, had the personnel or technical experience to manage it well. The job of shepherding the project was given to Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, the director of the White House Office of Health Reform and a very wonky wonk who happens to be married to one of my favorite writers. According to one official, the president believed that “if you were to design a person in the lab to implement health care, it would be Nancy-Ann.”

Uh, a history major with a Harvard Law degree? Look, I understand Obama has profound faith in the miraculous powers of Harvard Law graduates — he is supremely confident in his own transcendent genius — but why Nancy-Ann? Because she worked three years in the Clinton-era HHS? And another quote from McArdle:

[M]any of the bad decisions were designed to avoid Republican criticism. There was another reason that the exchanges’ architects were tucked away inside CMS: to try to stay out of the public eye. Other such decisions followed. CMS carefully obscured the unwillingness of a large number of states to build exchanges — despite the fact that this would greatly increase the complexity of the job — lest Republicans seize on that fact.

Was avoiding scrutiny — preventing Republicans from finding out what was going on — a policy decision or a political decision? And if politics was behind decision-making in what should have been a policy-oriented project, doesn’t this tell us something crucial?

Ah, but guess what? I still haven’t gotten to the quote that caused Ace to issue the “Flaming Skull” alert. Yes, it is that bad.

 

Category: Ace of Spades, Barack Obama, Health Care, Megan McArdle

Comments

43 Responses to “The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats”

  1. MrEvilMatt
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:23 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats: Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Sk… http://t.co/9VcI8kjejZ

  2. CHideout
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:23 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats: Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Sk… http://t.co/WQcpWczUCz

  3. jwbrown1969
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:23 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats: Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Sk… http://t.co/WHwP4iNR8C

  4. Lockestep1776
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:23 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats: Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Sk… http://t.co/oVawSeN0Ln

  5. Resista38176897
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:23 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats: Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Sk… http://t.co/k4LP1AnA8t

  6. Citzcom
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:23 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats: Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Sk… http://t.co/evPdMCy5IN

  7. NARNfan
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:32 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/fdzAaSaFkH #tcnt #stribpol #mnleg #mngop #mndfl

  8. NARNfan
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:34 am

    Uh, a history major with a Harvard Law degree? http://t.co/dM7hAcP3Pt #stribpol #tcnt #mnleg #mndfl #mngop

  9. NARNfan
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:35 am

    Uh, a history major with a Harvard Law degree? http://t.co/IWA6NQtyJI @mitchpberg

  10. The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats | Dead Citizen's Rights Society
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:42 am

    […] The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats […]

  11. rsmccain
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:53 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/9ON9zjImMc Hat-tips @asymmetricinfo @AceofSpadesHQ

  12. raywatts
    November 7th, 2013 @ 9:06 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats #tcot #tgdn http://t.co/0SfMT0MQ9a

  13. DorothyGrissom
    November 7th, 2013 @ 9:06 am

    RT @raywatts: The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats #tcot #tgdn http://t.co/0SfMT0MQ9a

  14. ajpwriter
    November 7th, 2013 @ 9:27 am

    Sounds like someone’s believing his own bullshit again.

  15. Quartermaster
    November 7th, 2013 @ 9:29 am

    “…a policy decision or a political decision?”
    In this maladministration there is little to no difference between the two.

  16. rsmccain
    November 7th, 2013 @ 9:58 am

    Texas Mental Health Questionnaire: Do you believe @WendyDavisTexas can be elected governor? You’re crazy. http://t.co/9ON9zjImMc #tcot

  17. fastfreefall
    November 7th, 2013 @ 10:03 am

    RT @rsmccain: Texas Mental Health Questionnaire: Do you believe @WendyDavisTexas can be elected governor? You’re crazy. http://t.co/9ON9zjI…

  18. Shutterbugfun
    November 7th, 2013 @ 10:12 am

    RT @rsmccain: Texas Mental Health Questionnaire: Do you believe @WendyDavisTexas can be elected governor? You’re crazy. http://t.co/9ON9zjI…

  19. JeffS
    November 7th, 2013 @ 10:36 am

    Possibly Ace’s astonishment was due to the degree of paranoia, incompetence, and political hackery on a project of this magnitude, and to the fact that the WaPo actually published that article.

    Certainly those two items are what caused my jaw to drop.

  20. RS
    November 7th, 2013 @ 10:38 am

    There’s no doubt that in the administration’s desire to insulate itself from scrutiny and criticism, no doubt partly because many if not most or all of the criticisms were/are sound, it has successfully made the Democratic Party the sole responsible party for this debacle. The question is whether enough people will realize this in order to elect representatives who will pull us back from the abyss. While I want to be hopeful, I remain pessimistic. The media will only go so far in reporting the extent of the fiasco and such reports will inevitably be tainted by the administration’s spin. Further, the horribles have been spaced out by design to hide the full extent of the outrage from the public. It is serendipitous that the website sucks. People are losing coverage and experience sticker shock. But the big problems won’t come until next year and this administration will undoubtedly exercise its imperial fiat to change the law at will.

    Further, the insurance industry in this country has been irrevocably changed for the worse. This industry which is risk driven and therefore relies on years of data for its calculations cannot retool in a matter of months. It’s been retooling since 2010 to get to this point. The “Keep Your Insurance” bills percolating through Congress are too little, too late. Those policies are never coming back, absent a complete repeal of the ACA which is not possible until 2017 at the earliest, given that the One will never sign a bill repealing it. The longer all or parts of the ACA remain in effect, the less likely it will disappear, to the detriment of health care in the U.S.

  21. p0rkch0p10
    November 7th, 2013 @ 11:14 am

    RT @JimW_in_NM: Predictable Incompetence of ObamaCare Bureaucrats..website project run by history major with a Harvard Law degree http://t.…

  22. OldmanRick
    November 7th, 2013 @ 12:21 pm

    Every day in every way the principles of the Peter Principle are reinforced by the idiocy of this administration and it chief narcissist – the brat.

  23. NCHornet
    November 7th, 2013 @ 2:05 pm

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats : http://t.co/IgXFcB7wwQ

  24. BusterUSMC
    November 7th, 2013 @ 3:18 pm

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/AhD47xCCOE

  25. Finrod Felagund
    November 7th, 2013 @ 3:23 pm

    More Obamacare silliness and idiocy, via Taranto:

    “The Affordable Care Act is the biggest new health care program in decades, but the Obama administration has ruled that neither the federal insurance exchange nor the federal subsidies paid to insurance companies on behalf of low-income people are ‘federal health care programs.’ The surprise decision, disclosed last week, exempts subsidized health insurance from a law that bans rebates, kickbacks, bribes and certain other financial arrangements in federal health programs, stripping law enforcement of a powerful tool used to fight fraud in other health care programs, like Medicare.”–New York Times, Nov. 5

  26. rsmccain
    November 7th, 2013 @ 3:40 pm

    RT @MrEvilMatt: The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats: Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Sk… http://t.…

  27. scarlett2112
    November 7th, 2013 @ 3:41 pm

    RT @MrEvilMatt: The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats: Ace of Spades gave the “Flaming Sk… http://t.…

  28. ggg217
    November 7th, 2013 @ 4:11 pm

    Who is #Obamacare Nancy-Ann Min DeParle & Why Should I care http://t.co/jitjsFWBIQ #IDIOTS #DefundObamacare #Benghazi #IRS #NSA #tcot #tgdn

  29. Adjoran
    November 7th, 2013 @ 5:22 pm

    I’m sure the bureaucracy has contributed to the fustercluck of this system and don’t mean to treat their contributions lightly, but the major crimes were at the direct behest of the White House.

    For instance, they had a design for the state exchanges, a framework for them to most easily integrate with the federal systems. If the states who built their own exchanges had followed the guidelines, their enrollees at least would have had a bit smoother time of it. But the White House refused to allow the design to be shared because it might leak and something might prove politically embarrassing in Obama’s reelection campaign, so they were not allowed to give the guide to the states.

    Also, the fellow who resigned today was the one who should have signed off on the security of the website for users – as required by law. He refused. Instead, his boss – the ditzy blonde head of CMS – signed it even though there had been none of the required testing.

    These and others are NOT bureaucracy SNAFUs – those are surely there, but among the minutiae if we ever get that far into it – but bear the fingerprints of Obama’s White House directly interfering for purely political reasons.

  30. Adjoran
    November 7th, 2013 @ 5:26 pm

    WaPo, like Ron Fournier at National Journal, hopes to rescue some shred of reputation after nine years of covering up every Obama mistake and unflattering fact. Even the most diehard propagandist finds it hard to claim it’s sunny and mild when the hurricane nears landfall.

  31. Adjoran
    November 7th, 2013 @ 5:30 pm

    On the contrary, Obama did not “rise to his level of incompetency,” he was leap-frogged far over it by those with other things in mind. After a few years of lackluster back-bench residence in the Illinois Senate, the do-nothing Obama’s name was put onto several important bills. When those senators who had actually worked on the bills for months or even years protested, Senate Presisent Emil Jones, Jr., told them, “I am making a United States Senator!”

    Obama’s attendance record in his four years in the Senate is the worst ever. His last two years, he had worse attendance than the last two years of Thurmond or Bob Byrd, both of whom spent most of theirs in the hospital.

    If only the Peter Principle had been in force, Obama would still be in the Illinois State Senate, voting “Present” most of the time.

  32. Susannah72
    November 7th, 2013 @ 5:39 pm

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/MQTAsuDuRu (Via @rsmccain)

  33. Art Deco
    November 7th, 2013 @ 5:54 pm

    The wages of putting hollow men in charge.

  34. AmPowerBlog
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:14 pm

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/6RVRTnsP4H via @RSMcCain

  35. thatMrGguy
    November 7th, 2013 @ 8:15 pm

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/5yaxUCxCxC

  36. BobBelvedere
    November 7th, 2013 @ 9:08 pm

    RT @thatMrGguy: The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/5yaxUCxCxC

  37. rsmccain
    November 7th, 2013 @ 9:33 pm

    RT @AmPowerBlog: The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/6RVRTnsP4H via @RSMcCain

  38. screwtape1a12
    November 7th, 2013 @ 9:58 pm

    RT @AmPowerBlog: The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/6RVRTnsP4H via @RSMcCain

  39. dontfundit
    November 7th, 2013 @ 10:20 pm

    RT @AmPowerBlog: The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/6RVRTnsP4H via @RSMcCain

  40. gates of vienna
    November 8th, 2013 @ 1:16 am

    Unfortunately I think your conclusion re the detriment of health care is the whole point, Automatic death panels with no need to actually institute them since the vulnerable will have little to no care – witness the stage 4 cancer patient whose insurance was cancelled – a very savvy person who faces an insurmountable Obama-caused death earlier than might have been the case.

  41. gates of vienna
    November 8th, 2013 @ 1:19 am

    It’s even worse. His White House health policy wonk, who has made money all thru various aspects of the health system, has no practical experience. She was a history major at Harvard, for heaven’s sake. But The Dim One thought she was a genius. Relatively, perhaps she is but smarts is worth nothing without hands-on experience.

  42. RS
    November 8th, 2013 @ 12:25 pm

    I personally think that the Progressives have been eyeing the two trillion dollars per annum spent on health care in this country with a covetous eye. They’ve long sought a way to get their hands on that pile for redistribution to their favorite groups and cronies. The destruction of American health care services is collateral damage in their exercise of covetousness.

  43. BrianKennedy8
    November 9th, 2013 @ 11:03 am

    The Shocking (But Actually Predictable) Stupidity of ObamaCare Bureaucrats http://t.co/PnSFmrvy4u