Obama administration knew days before launch that the federal exchange would fail

President Obama is still doing everything he can to sell the laughable notion that heavy traffic is responsible for the web-based meltdowns that have plagued Obamacare. The online "one stop shop" that the administration promised would be so simple has turned into a complete fiasco. Just yesterday afternoon, during his remarks in the rose garden, "President 1-800" was still blaming the allegedly massive influx of new customers for the collapse.

“The number of people who’ve visited the site has been overwhelming," Obama moaned. "Which has aggravated some of these underlying problems.” Unfortunately, it's a completely bogus claim. The administration knew the exchange was doomed to fail even before it launched. According to Reuters, just days before the site went live; it was fired up for a test run. An absolutely miniscule "few hundred" simultaneous users was enough to shut it down. From Reuters, via The Washington Post:

Days before the launch of President Obama’s online health ­insurance marketplace, government officials and contractors tested a key part of the Web site to see whether it could handle tens of thousands of consumers at the same time. It crashed after a simulation in which just a few hundred people tried to log on simultaneously. Despite the failed test, federal health officials plowed ahead.

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So, the administration learned that the site couldn't handle 300 users, but said 'So what? Let's open it up to millions!" The site went live and, as any sane person would expect; it fell apart immediately. Sadly, according to Reuters, it wasn't "millions of unique users" that overwhelmed the system. It was just 2,000.

When the Web site went live Oct. 1, it locked up shortly after midnight as about 2,000 users attempted to complete the first step, according to two people familiar with the project. As new details emerged about early warning signs of serious deficiencies in HealthCare.gov, Obama on Monday gave a consumer friendly defense of the health-care law, insisting that the problems many Americans have faced in trying to enroll in insurance plans will be fixed quickly.

That would be great, but the "quick-fix" is likely a pipe dream. The Obama administration is claiming that repairs are inbound, but aside from the Pesident no one seems to think that will happen quickly. To the contrary, it's expected to take weeks or months - and most insiders are claiming that it's unlikely to be ready in time for the enrollment deadline. That's why the administration is suddenly so desperate to get you to dial that occasionally working 1-800 number. If administration sources are to be believed, that "simple" online sign up system is now just one small, barely significant, part of the brilliance that is Obamacare. It may not work, but paper and phones will supposedly pick up the slack. Yeah....good luck with that.