It's never to soon to panic
by digby
Fergawdsakes:
Here’s the scenario the Obama administration wants to avoid at all costs on Saturday: It declares the Obamacare website fixed, a bunch of cable news network anchors try to log on again on live TV, and they get more error messages.
And suddenly, everyone’s showing that clip of George W. Bush standing on the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of the “Mission Accomplished” banner.
But Democrats on Capitol Hill have their own nightmare scenario, too: The White House gives them nothing to brag about, no evidence that the site is actually better — just as some of the most vulnerable Democrats are getting ready to blast the administration if they’re not convinced it’s fixed.
That leaves the administration with two jobs ahead of the deadline Saturday when the federal Obamacare enrollment website is supposed to be fixed — or at least useable for most Americans. They’ll tiptoe to avoid declaring victory on the site too soon, but still give those vulnerable Democrats something to seize.
Even though I have long criticized this administration --- and the Democratic Party in general --- for celebrating their alleged victories prematurely, I cannot imagine they are dumb enough to do that with the Obamacare implementation. It would be catastrophically dumb. Vulnerable Democrats aren't facing an election until next fall. They're just going to have to wait to see what happens. And let's just face facts: if that web site isn't working by then they have much bigger problems.
Everybody needs to just relax on the politics of Obamacare. There is nothing Democratic politicians can do except pray/hope/wish that the administration does what it takes to make it works better over the next few months. Panicking won't help.
Beltway conventional wisdom ... oy.
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