Talking Health Insurance Over Thanksgiving Dinner

Here's a hypothetical scenario: You're the president. You've just botched the roll out of what should have been your signature accomplishment, a major reform of the health insurance system. The public's hopping mad because you said anyone who liked his insurance plan would be able to keep it, but that wasn't true.

So what do you do now?

What the actual president did was suggest we all discuss health insurance with their families this holiday season.

If you subscribe to the Barack Obama Twitter feed, you got this note yesterday afternoon:

The link leads to a snazzily designed website called 'Health Care for the Holidays,' which features a 'packing list' of the basic information you need to sign up for insurance, and urges everyone to 'have the talk' over Thanksgiving.

I can just hear how it might go.

'Uncle Ralph, remember how you drank too much last year, choked on a turkey bone and ran up all those medical bills? Maybe you should check out HealthCare.gov.'

'I tried, but the website wouldn't work.'

I have been a big supporter, from the start, of the Affordable Care Act. If anything the reform program did not go far enough toward universal coverage.

But I question the wisdom of directing people to a cheery ad for the exchanges before they, you know, work. The president's communications team is just asking for it.