HealthCare.gov not working?  No problem.

Millions upon millions of people kicked off their health insurance because of the Patient (Lack of) Protection and (Un)Affordable Care Act?  No problem.

Higher premiums, lower deductibles?  No problem.

Rebrand and remarket the thing and if it is still a failure, reblame the Republicans for their "ideological resistance," stressing their

"(one) side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure and -- and that makes, I think, the -- the kind of iterative process of fixing glitches as they come up and finetuning the law more challenging." 

And, of course, the old reliable

And frankly, we've got to stop governing by crisis here in this town, because if it weren't for Washington's dysfunction, I think all of us agree, we'd be a lot further along.

Other than that, despite that--oh yes, "and the fact that my website's not working the way it's supposed to."--everything and anything is just dandy thanks to President Barack Obama (D) according to President Barack Obama (D) himself speaking at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Annual Council Meeting. 

I do want to say, though, that, beyond the headlines, we have made real progress in the economy. And sometimes that hasn't gotten enough attention. Some of the tough decisions that we made early on have paid off, decisions that helped us not only recover from a crisis but begin to lay a stronger foundation for future growth.

We refocused on manufacturing and exports, and today our businesses sell more goods and services made in America than ever before around the world. After a decade of shedding jobs, our manufacturing sector's now added about half a million new jobs, and it's led by an American auto industry that has come roaring back after decades of decline.

We decided to reverse our dependence on foreign oil, and today we generate more renewable energy than ever before and more natural gas than anybody in the world. And for the first time in nearly 20 years, America now produces more of our own oil than we buy from other countries.

When I took office, we invested a fraction of what other countries did in wireless infrastructure, and today it's up nearly 50 percent, helping companies unleash jobs, innovation and a booming (app ?) economy that's created more than 500,000 jobs. When I took office, only 5 percent of the world's smartphones ran on American operating systems; today more than 80 percent do.

And it's not just in the high-tech economy that we're seeing progress. For example, American farmers are on pace to have one of their best years in decades, and they have consistently been able to export more, make more profits and help restore rural economies than when we came into office.

And yes, we decided to take on a broken health care system. And even though the rollout of the new health care system. And even though the rollout of the new health care marketplace has been rough, to say the least, about half a million Americans are now poised to gain health care coverage beginning January 1st. That's after only a month of signup.

We also have seen health care costs growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. Employer-based health costs are growing at about one- third of the rate of a decade ago, and that has an impact on your bottom line.

And after years of trillion-dollar deficits, we reined in spending, wound down two wars and began to change a tax code that I believe was too skewed towards the wealthiest among us at the expense of the middle class. And since office -- since I took office, we have now cut our deficits by more than half.

Add it all up, and businesses like yours have created 7.8 million new jobs over the past 44 months. We've gone farther and recovered faster than most other advanced nations.

So that proves he's not a socialist as some say.  

You know, people call me a socialist sometimes.  But no, you've got to meet real socialists. You'll have a sense of what a socialist is.

He is a socialist.

Obama said this--and more--all with a straight face just a short while after Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, testifying before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, admitted

the agency is still working on a number of "back office" aspects of the project, including a system to send payments to insurance companies.

Parts of the project that users see -- notably, HealthCare.gov -- are 100 percent finished, he said. But he said accounting and payment systems still need to be completed. (snip)

Also incomplete are a component that ensures that the marketplaces and the insurers have accurate, matching information about enrollments, and a system that makes payments to insurers that attract high-risk patients. These systems must be in place by January, officials have said.

Oh, and not so by the way

Chao spoke at a hearing that was supposed to center on the security of people's private information entered into the site. But much of it focused on just-disclosed documents showing that an independent auditor had warned high-level Obama administration officials last spring that the federal marketplace had significant risks.

But, no matter, on January1, 2014 the American people will all have terrific, affordable health insurance.

And if they don't, it is all the fault of the Republicans.