Some of you may have watched the 107 minute press conference New Jersey Governor Chris Christie held this week to answer charges about shutting down lanes to the George Washington Bridge.
I think most people were impressed about how incredibly open the governor was with the media and his constituents. He answered every question head-on, he fired staff, and he travelled to Fort Lee to apologize to the town's mayor and residents. Like the mayor, I take the governor at his word for now.
What really struck me about the endless press conference and apologies was how much it contrasts with how President Obama handled the disastrous rollout of the Healthcare.gov website.
As Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, I had multiple administration officials testify that the Healthcare.gov website would be up and running smoothly on October 1. They claimed that proper security measures would be taken to protect personal information.
When it opened, the website was a nearly complete failure. Only six Americans were able to enroll in a health plan on the first day. It was only by December, more than two months after launch, that the website had enough functionality to let 90 percent of visitors get through the process. Even now, we are still hearing reports about insurance companies struggling to deal with faulty data and to properly enroll applicants in health plans.
Someone in charge of the website knew that things were bound to go wrong, and yet according to the President he was told in multiple briefings that everything would run smoothly. Now we know that the project was such a tremendous mess, with missed deadlines and failed tests, that someone in the chain of command was probably lying to his or her superiors or directly to the President.
The President's press conference on the failed website stands in stark contrast to the governor's. While Christie went out to the podium alone, the President positioned an array of people to stand behind him as props. The President spoke for less than 30 minutes, taking no questions from the assembled media. Near the end of the speech, a pregnant woman brought in to stand and smile during the remarks nearly fainted. At the conclusion, the people standing in the background gave the President a round of applause and the press conference concluded.
No one was blamed for the tremendous failure of the website. No one was called out for giving the President faulty briefings. The President didn't even give the names of the "experts" that were being brought in to fix things. The President told people to sign up by phone or in-person, failing to tell the American people that this information would have to eventually be entered into the exact same online system that was currently under maintenance.
Secretary Sebelius is still the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where the website was constructed, is still led by Marilyn Tavenner. Henry Chao is still the deputy in charge of the website project. Todd Park is still the Chief Technology Officer for the President. Some more minor officials have moved on to jobs in the private sector, but no one was fired. No one was called out for lying to the President.
Millions of Americans lost their healthcare because of the President's health law. Many who think they are enrolled in a plan may find that the insurer didn't get the information they needed from the government website. Healthcare.gov has been a national disaster.
In time, there may be evidence to contradict Governor Christie's word, but at least the openness of his press conference is a refreshing change from the manufactured White House press events we see in Washington. At least the people of New Jersey were able to see their leader look members of the media in the eye and answer direct questions. I wish we could say the same about the President of the United States.