When I started into today's New York Times article on fixing Healthcare.gov I noted the length (7 on-line pages!) and was expecting one of those old-time, encyclopedic articles like
one of many on the Challenger explosion.
It was pretty light on facts but heavy on politics and emotion. While revealing nothing the techies among us haven't been buzzing about for weeks, it did have these gems:
- ... the moved satisfied most Democrats. Only 39 voted with Republicans to
alter the health law, far fewer than the White House had feared.
- “Just attack us,” Mr. Biden said, according to one person present. “Blame us.”
- Now it was about a broken promise. But for Mr. Obama, the mounting criticism was more than political. It felt personal.
- That morning, an aide to the secretary woke up and burst into tears. “We are taking arrows every day,” she said.
Well, I just can't go on any more.
Read the whole damn thing.
But if you just want evidence that the effort to make the fix is apolitical - or maybe even bipartisan - just
skip to page six for this description of the command and control structure - emphasis added:
The war room — a command center known internally as the Exchange
Operation Center, or X.O.C. — takes up the fourth floor of a nondescript
office building that sits next to a shopping mall, close enough for
frequent food runs to Chick-fil-A or Five Guys Burgers and Fries.
Yes, it is once again OK to mention Chick-fil-A in Washington and New York. (Chicago, probably not so much.) So let's get re-write on the case and make that "Chick-fil-A
or and Five Guys Burgers and Fries."
Update:
Yeah, I know I'm not the only one fascinated by the Chick-fil-A reference.
