Obama Pals Crafted Disastrous Fed Health Exchange Website

The heavily touted online federal healthcare exchange (Healthcare.gov) that got off to a disastrous start today was designed by a team made up entirely of Obama minions, including the design manager for the president’s 2008 campaign and the White House Deputy Director of New Media.  

The expert team of Obama pals has been designing the bilingual website for months and it’s supposed to be the centerpiece of the new healthcare law, serving as an essential tool that will guide millions of Americans through the rigorous process of choosing insurance. Its appearance and modern technology are not commonly seen in most federal government websites, so it definitely sticks out though it’s not even working properly.  In fact the Spanish page isn’t functioning at all, delivering a message that says “lo sentimos, no podemos encontrar la página (Sorry, we can’t find the page).”

The English page isn’t all that efficient either, according to numerous news reports on this the first day of Obamacare. One mainstream newspaper says that the online insurance marketplaces created by President Obama’s healthcare law got off to a bumpy start as some consumers were kicked off web portals and several states reported glitches that slowed enrollment on the first day Americans were supposed to be able to sign up for coverage. In other instances the website simply froze when consumers tried to create accounts.

Another mainstream newspaper writes that “technical glitches” in the government’s website prevented uninsured Americans around the country from enrolling in Obamacare. That article includes anecdotes of frustrated people who were simply told the website was down when they called. Here’s how the Obama administration decided to spin it: “A message on the federal web site, Healthcare.gov, which is the main enrollment site for 34 states, said that it was having technical difficulties because so many people are logging on.”  

What the media isn’t mentioning is that the now infamous health exchange website was exclusively designed by contractors with deep ties to the president. For instance Jessica Teal, founder of Teal Studios, was previously the Design Manager for the Obama 2008 campaign, according to records discovered in the course of a Judicial Watch probe. Teal’s other clients include Planned Parenthood, the AFL-CIO, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Emily’s List and other lefty outfits.

Another contractor that worked on the Obamacare website is a firm called Development Seed, a Washington D.C.-based “creative data visualization and mapping team.” Development Seed’s General Manager, Dave Cole, was previously the Deputy Director of New Media in the Obama White House. He was also the data lead for the Obama campaign in Iowa in 2008.

 The last contractor, Ed Mullen, of Ed Mullen Studio, doesn’t have a record of working on Obama’s political campaign but he wrote this on his website in 2011: “The practice of empathy seems to have been a central force in Barack Obama’s life for a very long time. It was certainly front and center from the moment he stepped onto the stage of the 2004 Democratic National Convention. His capacity for empathy allowed him to connect with a broad range of people. His recognition of an empathy deficit, and the public’s unquenched desire for a more empathetic world, gave momentum to the movement that led to his Presidency.”