Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has dutifully tried to protect Obama, claiming he was unaware of Healthcare.gov's problems. But behind the scenes her allies are pointing fingers at the Obama White House. 

A source reportedly close to Sebelius and the White House told the New York Times, "she doesn't have the responsibility or in many respects the kind of wide authority and access to the president that she really needs to make a difference." 

The Times continues, "The White House kept close tabs on the creation of the online exchange, with particular attention to the Web site's design…" 

So did Obama know or did he not know? You may recall that Obama claimed that he didn't know about the political abuse at the IRS until he read "the same news reports" as everyone else. 

Given the hype about Obamacare's October 1st launch, it is inconceivable that the president did not know about the problems facing his signature initiative. 

Meanwhile, Obama's left-wing allies are not happy. MSNBC reports that many liberal bloggers and columnists are grousing about having to defend the indefensible incompetence of this administration. 

You Can't Keep Your Current Plan 

More Americans are finding out that they cannot keep their current health insurance policy, even if they like it. Consider this excerpt from a recent Kaiser Health News report: 
 

• "Florida Blue … is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people -- about half of its individual business in the state. Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent."

The report goes on to note that "Some receiving cancellations say it looks like their costs will go up…" For example, Kris Malean of Seattle is losing her current plan. The replacement being offered to her will cost nearly $950 more a year and comes "with a deductible twice as large as what she pays now." 

At a press conference today, House Speaker John Boehner made a stunning prediction: "I think what you're going to see at the end of October are more Americans are going to lose their health insurance than are going to sign up at these exchanges." 

On a lighter note, last night Jay Leno joked that it was "easier to join al Qaeda using their website than it was to sign up for Obamacare." 

Big Government Doesn't Work 

Here's a testament to the inefficiency of Big Government. The Washington Post reports that so-called "healthcare co-ops" created by Obamacare are failing. 

What was their intended purpose? According to the Post the Congress that gave us Obamacare also "decided to establish a network of nonprofit insurance companies aimed at bringing competition to the marketplace." 

In other words, the liberal politicians thought they knew better than the free market and decided to test their genius against private insurance companies. Predictably, the bureaucrat-designed co-ops are going bust. 

Only two dozen ever got started and already one has shut down, while a second is "struggling" and "at least nine more are projected to have financial problems."

When quasi-governmental entities have "financial problems" we know what that means: Taxpayers are "potentially on the hook for nearly $1 billion in defaulted loans…" 

But wait…there's more! 

The Obama Administration unveiled a new "shop and browse" feature on its Obamacare website this week. This was supposed to be a major improvement. But CBS News reports that the price quotes are grossly inaccurate. 

Reporter Jan Crawford found that "…people could end up paying double of what they see on the website." CBS reports that "industry executives … could not believe the government is providing these estimates…" One insurance analyst told CBS that the price quotes were "incredibly misleading." 

If Obamacare is such a great deal, why is the government trying to mislead the American people?

Some tech experts are saying it could take six months to a year to fix Healthcare.gov's many glitches. Not surprisingly, CNN reports that others say it would be better to "blow it up and start over."

Disgusting Demagoguery 

Here we go again. Liberals and their media allies constantly blame hateful rhetoric on the right for the meltdown of civility in Washington. Yet while House conservatives passed bill after bill to avoid the government shutdown, Senate liberals refused to consider them, all the while comparing conservatives to "hijackers," "arsonists" and "terrorists."

With the government shutdown over, have liberals stopped the name calling? Not a chance! In fact, one House liberal went a step further, sending out a fundraising email equating the Tea Party with the KKK. An image in the email spelled out "Tea Party," but the "T" was a burning cross. (See it here.)

And get this: The context of the email was a recent interview the congressman did with Al Sharpton discussing the government shutdown. Even when discussing fiscal policy differences, some liberals inevitably resort to demonizing conservatives as racists.

If Barack Obama were serious about bi-partisan cooperation he would start by publicly condemning that kind of offensive language from the left. 

Dismantling Our Foreign Policy 

In addition to everything Obama is dismantling inside America -- from our health care to the meaning of marriage -- he is dismantling America's foreign policy. Immediately upon taking office, he strained our relationship with Great Britain. Whatever your position on Syria, the British Parliament's refusal to support Obama's intervention showed just how strained our "special relationship" had become. 

Obama has spent five years undercutting Israel. He did little in Egypt, the most populous country in the Middle East and north Africa. The French and the Germans are furious over his vast spying network. 

Now I'm no fan of the House of Saud. But since the end of World War II, the U.S. has maintained a stable "working relationship" with the Saudis in order to balance our interests in the Middle East. Thanks to Obama's policies, even the Saudis are turning on us.

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