President Obama’s Rose Garden speech Monday was supposed to send two messages—one, that he is determined to fix Obamacare’s troubled federal websites and, two, that the law is already helping many people get insurance. I happen to believe both claims, but I doubt the event convinced anybody with doubts.
The president had appeared alongside average people who would benefit from the law. But, as the official biographies had made clear, most had not yet gotten insurance. The president had also reminded people that they could use other methods of enrollment, including paper applications and a call center. But reporters who tried calling had trouble getting through. Offstage, administration officials were dealing with a barrage of tough questions: Why had the Department of Health and Human Services released figures for applications but not enrollments? When would Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius give Congress a formal report? Were officials prepared to delay the individual mandate?
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