The health care law was passed in Obama's first term, and implemented literally years later during his second. If they were confused about what was in it, they

The health care law was passed in Obama's first term, and implemented literally years later during his second. If they were confused about what was in it, they had plenty of time to figure it out. What apparently was a genuine surprise was how many state governments were unwilling to set up their own exchanges, which was how things were originally envisioned to operate; having the federal government operate the exchanges was intended as a last resort. But even there, it was apparent in plenty of time how the wind was blowing. And as to what it took to operate an exchange --- there was prior information there, too, in the form of a functioning exchange in Massachusetts. (Which hasn't been functioning so well this year in part because it's now required to integrate with the federal system, and that part has had severe teething trouble. But again, none of this should have been a surprise.) This isn't meant as commentary on the specifics of the law. But as a left-leaning guy myself, I don't think there's a reasonable excuse for how they blew it (and, to his credit, Obama's not trying to make any).