Brian Beutler: Ross Douthat’s right-wing fairy tale: What the New York Times columnist misses about Obamacare

A prominent New York Times columnist doesn't understand GOP opposition to Obamacare is part of its war on the poor 

Here’s some good news. Jeff Zients — the guy President Obama tasked with managing the Healthcare.gov cleanup job — told reporters on a conference call Friday that Obamacare’s federally facilitated insurance marketplaces should be working well by the end of November.

The Healthcare.gov rollout has been so bad and the threat to the integrity of the law is so real, it stands to reason this isn’t just spin or wishful thinking. It could turn out to be wrong. But at this point the administration gains nothing by sugarcoating things. Quieting criticism for a month won’t have any demonstrable benefits if by the end of November the system’s still broken. They’ll have just compounded the damage they’ve done to their credibility and people’s faith in the project.