Ezekiel Emanuel’s Lazy Standards for Success

Dr. Ezekeiel Emanuel told Fox News Sunday on Nov. 3 that if the federal Obamacare website was not “adequately working” by Nov. 30, then it might be time to consider delaying the law. On Sunday, he told NBC’s  Meet the Press that healthcare.gov was making “good enough progress” even if it “still has a ways to go.”

The constant use of weasel words as criteria for progress allows Dr. Emanuel, and the government he represents, to slip out of their commitments. It also allows him to make absurd comparisons to private-sector failures: “just like Google and Facebook,” he says, the government is “tweaking” the Obamacare website.

Note that he did not compare Obamacare to private sector successes. It turns out that there are actually no criteria at all for Dr. Emanuel: he will defend his program, come what may. Evidently, there are enough Democrats foolish enough to trust him. The real measure of their success will come in November 2014.