Scott Johnson of Powerline has come up with a wonderful phrase to describe the public denial of the reality of healthcare.gov by Kathleen Sebelius (and others), calling them "Baghdad Bobs":

Sebelius told the assembled faithful that the federal Obamcare portal Healthcare.gov was "open for business." She acknowledged the widely reported "early glitches" but assured the faithful that "it's getting better every day." Even the New York Times provides evidence to the contrary. Who ya gonna believe, her or your lyin' eyes?

The Obama administration is full of people, starting  at the top, who insist on counterfactual propositions, secure in the knowledge that the dominant media will not question them or hold their lies up against the truth and draw the appropriate conclusions. For the most part, they have achieved great success, starting with then-Senator Obama's first campaign for president, in which evidence contradicting the portrait of him as a brilliant phenom was not just ignored, but stigmatized as racist.

But this time is different. Reality is being pushed in the faces of every American family: you either have to buy Obamacare yourself, or prove to the IRS's satisfaction that you have another health care plan they deem acceptable. Otherwise, you are in for a fine, excuse me, a tax.

There is nothing quite like facing a tax to focus the mind, except of course for a pending execution.

The reason why the term "Baghdad Bob" is so powerful is that it sums up the willful denial of obvious reality, and that is what is underway in the administration's response to Obamacare. The natural reaction of nearly everyone is scorn.

Scorn is a very difficult emotion to respond to effectively. Moreover, such response takes an e motion al toll on the responder.

Obama, Pelosi, and the entire Democrat power structure have made their bed with Obamacare sheets. Now they have to sleep in it. It isn't going to be comfortable. Long after the current shutdown is forgotten, people are going to be tearing their hair out over frustration with the new reality created by Obamacare.