Obamacare Is No Starship Enterprise

From Megan McArdle of Bloomberg News:

The technocratic idea is that you put a bunch of smart, competent people in government -- folks who really want the thing to work -- and they’ll make it happen. But “smart, competent people” are not a generic quantity; they’re incredibly domain-specific. Most academics couldn’t run a lemonade stand. Most successful entrepreneurs wouldn’t be able to muster the monomaniacal devotion needed to get a Ph.D. Neither group produces many folks who can consistently generate readable, engaging writing on a deadline. And none of us would be able to win a campaign for Congress.

Yet in my experience, the majority of people in these domains think that they could do everyone else’s job better, if they weren’t so busy with whatever it is they’re doing so well. It’s the illusion of omnicompetence, and in the case of HealthCare.gov, it seems to have been nearly fatal.

This website was created at the behest of the Dear Leader who is a better speechwriter than his speechwriters, a better political adviser than his political advisers, a better pastry chef than the White House pastry chef . . . Ordinary people have limitations and usually know their limits. But not this guy, and his closest Adviser keeps reminding him that he is the greatest.