Kathleen Sebelius is getting out of Dodge, and the timing of her resignation as Secretary of Health and Human Services makes l sense. Though the 7.1 million figure for ObamaCare sign-ups is overblown, it provides the proper political cover for her to leave.
By leaving now, Mrs. Sebelius also denies the GOP a juicy target in its campaign to retake the Senate this year. For keeping the Senate Democratic is vital to the president if he hopes to keep the GOP from taking apart ObamaCare. Obama might still veto their legislation, but that’s not something that will help those in his party looking at the 2016 presidential election.
Manifestly, Sebelius has become the face of a law that grows more unpopular with every passing year. It’s also true that often she came across as singularly inept, most notably in the colossal flop that was last year’s launch of HealthCare.gov.
But let’s say a word on behalf of this departing cabinet officer. Behind her failures and shortcomings lies this brutal fact: No one could fix ObamaCare.
Ask yourself this: Who could have made sense of a law the House speaker said we had to pass to know what was in it? What HHS secretary could have given a good explanation for all the waivers, delays and special favors? And how could anyone get around the fact that a central promise made by the president — you can keep your plan if you like it — was flat-out false?
Mrs. Sebelius tried. In the process, she took many arrows for her president. But in the end, the contradictions and hubris upon which this bad law rests did her in.
Let’s be honest about her service: If Mrs. Sebelius failed, it’s because ObamaCare made it impossible for her to succeed.