Why did he let the website suck so hard? You'd think with essentially unlimited funding he could have gotten world-class web developers to write a flawless website. Maybe he's not computer literate? President Obama's not stupid, he must have seen this coming.
This is not meant to be a topic about whether or not the Affordable Care Act is good policy or not, just how did he let them build a half-assed website for his signature program and give Fox News and the Republican party so much ammunition?
squeegee !first/o5zA joined in and replied with this 13 years ago, 29 minutes later[^][v]#453,960
the president doesn't assign government contracts. companies bid on the contracts, and the lowest bid wins.
also to ensure that no one company is given preferential treatment when it comes to being awarded contracts, all large scale jobs are broken up and farmed out to as many vendors as possible. it ended up being something like 50+ different programming firms building one website, and no one company was in charge. This is why it is a cluster fuck, there was zero testing done by the contractors and in the end nothing worked.
This is just how government contracts are awarded, and the system goes back to FDR or something. not Obama.
squeegee !first/o5zA double-posted this 13 years ago, 2 minutes later, 32 minutes after the original post[^][v]#453,961
why do people think the president sits on top of a throne and micromanages every action taken by the government?
Meta (OP) replied with this 13 years ago, 2 minutes later, 34 minutes after the original post[^][v]#453,962
@453,960 (squeegee !first/o5zA)
I doubt President Obama was directly in charge of the website design, but if he said to his subordinates "this is important, don't fuck this up!" would that have no influence on it?
squeegee !first/o5zA replied with this 13 years ago, 2 minutes later, 37 minutes after the original post[^][v]#453,963
i mean shit, i can't believe he let someone else build the website. He's supposed to be smart, he went to harvard, he should have been able to turn out a world-class website designed to serve millions upon millions by himself.
i mean shit, it's his damn law! he can write a law but he can't cobble together some simple html?
what a half assed president.
maybe only one half of him is working...
i wonder which half that might be, hmmm?
Meta (OP) replied with this 13 years ago, 2 minutes later, 39 minutes after the original post[^][v]#453,964
@previous (squeegee !first/o5zA) > 2013 > not reading the post above you
squeegee !first/o5zA replied with this 13 years ago, 59 seconds later, 40 minutes after the original post[^][v]#453,965
@453,962 (Meta)
why would he say that? that's condescending. i would hope the president surrounds himself with people who can make the determination when something is important and that "fucking up" isn't a proper course of action.
squeegee !first/o5zA double-posted this 13 years ago, 1 minute later, 41 minutes after the original post[^][v]#453,966
i read it. i read it after i finished posting what went below it.
Meta (OP) replied with this 13 years ago, 11 minutes later, 52 minutes after the original post[^][v]#453,967
@453,965 (squeegee !first/o5zA)
Not literally those words, but somehow communicating that the healthcare.gov website working properly is important to him. @previous (squeegee !first/o5zA)
I apologize. I know this BBS is not updated in real time, and I should have taken that into consideration.
Anonymous C joined in and replied with this 13 years ago, 5 hours later, 5 hours after the original post[^][v]#453,977
Obamacare is the biggest tax on the poor in the history of this country. Forces them all to buy health insurance. I hear even medicare makes people pay over $100 a month rather than getting it free.
squeegee !first/o5zA replied with this 13 years ago, 1 hour later, 7 hours after the original post[^][v]#453,980
@453,967 (Meta) > Not literally those words, but somehow communicating that the healthcare.gov website working properly is important to him.
but... why... would he even... have too? Do you only do quality work when your boss specifically says so, or are you walking around half assing everything waiting to be told what should be done correctly? no. I can assure you that the problems with healthcare.gov wouldn't have been fixed by the president expressing a desire for it to work. awarding a contract and paying millions of dollars to a company should be sufficient to impress upon them an expectation that work be done properly. the problem is systemic and grew from the way the contracts were awarded. 1 company built one module, another company built another module. both modules depend on each other to function, but no company worked with another company to design their modules. All testing was done by the end user. Not the companies who developed the site.
to fix this kind of problem, you'd have to change the way government contracts are awarded.
i really wish people didn't act like obama is magic, and that his wishes are all it takes to make broad sweeping changes.
saying the president could have willed the website to work by expressing it's importance and his desire work be done properly is just a way to blame obama for the kind of inherent bureaucracy that comes with federalism. you are assigning to him special powers of magical willfulness that just isn't rational.
Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 13 years ago, 28 minutes later, 8 hours after the original post[^][v]#453,983
Government spending must be spread around to as many constituents as possible to appease the legislature. It's all about securing reelection you see. To award the contract to a single company and require them to farm out the work won't cut it because members of congress require direct attribution for the --bribes-- gifts they deliver their supporters.
(Edited 12 seconds later.)
Anonymous E joined in and replied with this 13 years ago, 7 hours later, 15 hours after the original post[^][v]#454,020