Obama Lowers The Bar 

After Obamacare's disastrous October 1st launch, we were told the website needed more work and would be fully functional by the end of the month. But administration officials, including the president, are lowering the bar. 

The Obama White House now says it will be pleased with the Healthcare.gov website if it works for just 80% of users by the end of the month. And that's after spending hundreds of millions of dollars --perhaps a billion dollars -- on the website. Obama's lofty promises sounded good, but Big Government couldn't deliver. 

Liberals are starting to panic. We saw it Friday when more than three dozen House Democrats backed a Republican bill widely considered to be a direct assault on Obamacare. 

Liberal commentator Mark Shields said, "If this goes down … if health care, the Affordable Care Act is deemed a failure, this is the end -- I really mean it -- of liberal government." 

In a column entitled "Obamacare's Threat To Liberalism," reporter Todd Purdum writes, "So the fiasco of the launch of Obama's sweeping health care overhaul has put the reputation of Big Government progressivism at risk for at least this generation." 

"It's Going To Get Worse" 

The hot topic of the Sunday news talk shows was obviously the ongoing Obamacare disaster and its potential ramifications. But I was struck by the number of commentators who now think that fixing the website is actually the easy part of the fiasco. 

It may take some time, but the technical glitches will surely be resolved. The policy glitches, however, are a different story. The Washington Post's Bob Woodward bluntly stated, "It's going to get worse." At Politico there is a column headlined, "Obamacare: So, What Could Go Wrong Next?" Consider this paragraph: 
 

• "The stumble-filled debut of President Barack Obama's health care law is drawing new attention to the other risks that have been on the radar screen of health care wonks for months. Think health insurance plans sinking under the weight of sick customers, newly insured people being stunned that they still have to spend on health care, and possibly another wave of canceled policies -- right before the 2014 elections."

The Knockout Game 

One of the reasons millions of Americans voted for Barack Obama in 2008 was the hope for racial reconciliation. Sadly, as we prepare to mark the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, there is evidence that Obama's racial politics have divided the country even more.

From Louis Henry Gates to Trayvon Martin, Obama has stoked the fires of racial resentment. In addition, more and more Americans have been ensnared by dependency on Big Government welfare programs in the last five years. Those programs can undermine individual initiative, a sense of dignity and self-worth and the family unit. 

Violent crime has increased for two years in a row. So-called flash mobs, where teenagers engage in mass theft, continue to be a problem. The latest evidence of growing thuggery is the so-called "Knockout game" sweeping urban America. 

As of now, mostly black youths, approaching people on the street, attempt to knock someone out with one punch in totally unprovoked attacks. This "game" has already resulted in deaths and serious injuries. Breitbart.com has documented some recent cases. 

In New York, the attackers appear to be targeting members of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Martin Luther King, Jr., would be weeping. As the first man of color to occupy the Oval Office, President Obama has a particular opportunity to speak out against this senseless violence and encourage minority youth to achieve a higher standard of conduct than that promoted in the "gangsta culture." 

I hope that President Obama will stop his exploitation of racial politics and his divisive rhetoric, and, instead, following Abraham Lincoln's example, will remember "the better angels of our nature."