Government Shuts Down, Obamacare Opens 

Parts of the federal government shut down today, and Obamacare struggled to ramp up. People attempting to access the Healthcare.gov website this morning, which is running the Obamacare exchange program in 34 states, quickly discovered that the system had crashed, even after three years preparing for the big day. Watch what happened to one MSNBC reporter. 

That was a technical glitch that may not last long. The big glitch is the fact that the law is poorly written and built on the idea that government knows best how to run your health care. 

It has been a tenet of conservative orthodoxy that once Obamacare reached this stage there would never be another chance to roll it back. This was based on the belief that once people started getting benefits for "free," Obama and his leftist allies would have achieved their main goal of increasing government dependency. This is still a real risk. 

But despite attempts to equate Obamacare with popular programs like Social Security and Medicare, there are at least as many people being hurt as helped by it. Many Americans still do not fully realize how they are being penalized or negatively affected. But they will. 

Workers have had their hours and paychecks reduced as a result of Obamacare. People have lost jobs as a result of Obamacare. Many have already lost and more will lose the insurance they currently have. 

All of which is to say there is no reason to despair. This battle will continue as reality sets in. Obamacare will be a major issue in next year's congressional elections, and it will be a major issue in the 2016 presidential election. 

Senate Shuts Down The Government 

Late yesterday afternoon, the House of Representatives passed another budget resolution to keep the government open. The legislation also included a one-year delay in Obamacare's individual mandate and an amendment insisting that members of Congress participate in Obamacare as required by the law. But, once again, Senate liberals refused to consider the bill. 

Let's be clear about that, friends. The GOP-led House passed a bill to delay the individual mandate, a move polls show the public overwhelmingly supports, and the Democrat Senate rejected it. 

The House passed a bill to repeal the Obamacare waiver that Barack Obama granted to members of Congress, which polls show the public despises, and the Senate rejected it.

The House has passed three resolutions to fund the government and keep it open, and the Senate has rejected them all.

Of course, virtually none of the national news broadcasts are explaining this to the American people. 

ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC are not telling viewers that the House of Representatives is trying to delay the individual mandate so that families get the same benefit that Obama gave to Big Business. Nor are they telling their viewers that House conservatives are trying to roll back the congressional exemption from Obamacare and that Senate liberals are fighting to keep it. 

But the White House and congressional liberals are digging in because they know Big Media is on their side. This morning Time's Mark Halperin admitted that Obama's shutdown strategy depends on an obedient media blaming congressional conservatives. Watch it here. 

Honor Flight Vets Storm The Barricades 

Roughly 200 veterans flew to Washington this week, thanks to the Honor Flight program, to visit historic sites, including the World War II Memorial. But when the vets arrived at the World War II Memorial this morning they were greeted by barricades with signs reading, "Because of the Federal Government SHUTDOWN, All National Parks Are CLOSED." Guess what happened next!

According to various reports, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) distracted the Park Police while the veterans removed the barricades. Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-MS) said, "These men and women didn't cower to the Japanese and Germans. I don't think they're about to let a few National Park Police stand in their way." 

To their credit, the Park Police stood with our veterans. One officer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Washington Post, "I'm not going to enforce the 'no stopping or standing' sign for a group of World War II veterans. I'm a veteran myself." Good for him. And kudos to the members of Congress who escorted our heroes to the memorial honoring their service and sacrifice. 

How Easy It Is To Be Obama 

Conservatives will never get to experience what Obama and the left gets every day -- a media willing to change their talking points at a drop of a hat to accommodate the left's agenda. Let me explain.

For the past few days, one of the main liberal talking points loyally repeated by the subservient media is that Obamacare was passed by Congress, signed by the president and upheld by the courts. They argue that it is outrageous that conservatives are trying to change that law. 

No, it's not! That is exactly what you are supposed to do when you disagree with a law -- pass legislation to repeal or change it. But compare that to how Obama has acted when he doesn't like a law -- the Defense of Marriage Act, for example. 

DOMA passed Congress with huge bi-partisan majorities. It got 342 votes in the House and 85 votes in the Senate. It was signed by a Democrat president. It was upheld by the courts and was the law of the land for 17 years. But Barack Obama simply decided he would no longer enforce it. 

Immigration laws passed by Congress and signed by the president were also ignored by Obama. There is a big debate coming up on raising the debt ceiling, and the White House is hinting that Obama may issue an executive order raising the debt ceiling all by himself. 

And then there is Obamacare. The law Obama signed said the employer mandate had to begin next year. He waived it. The law required members of Congress to participate in Obamacare's exchange program. Obama waived it. In fact, Obamacare has already been changed 19 times. 

No reporter I am aware of has made the obvious point: "Mr. President, for you to argue that a law once passed can't be touched is completely contrary to what you have done for the past five years." 

Sellout Ahead? 

While Obama refuses to negotiate with conservatives in Congress, he is aggressively pursuing negotiations with Iran's Hassan Rouhani. In contrast to his hardline with Speaker Boehner and Senate Republican Leader McConnell, Obama is acting like a cat ready to hop in Rouhani's lap to "purr" to the Persian. 

When Rouhani refused to meet with Obama at the U.N., diplomats saw it as a "slap down" by Iran's wily leader. Obama appeared clueless to what had just happened to him and initiated a telephone call to Rouhani, another signal of weakness. White House "spinners" were quick to leak that the call was promising and showed the power of Obama's personal diplomacy. Don't believe it. 

Here's the truth. Rouhani may be close to achieving the Islamic Iranian dream -- having nuclear weapons to intimidate us and threaten Israel or worse. But the economic sanctions on Iran are biting deeply. Rouhani believes he can get Obama to ease the sanctions in exchange for vague promises that Iran won't build nukes. Such an agreement would not be worth the paper it is written on.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Obama yesterday to urge caution on any concessions and warned against Rouhani's "sweet talk and blitz of smiles." Then he headed to Capitol Hill, where senators of both parties agreed with him about the need to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Time is running out. 

Today Netanyahu went to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly. At noon he sent his own message to Obama: "Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone."