Will Darrell Issa’s Healthcare.gov Witch Hunt Save Obama?

When President Obama looked in the mirror on Wednesday morning, he must have wondered whether things could get any worse for the limber, graying fellow staring back at him. According to one new poll, his approval rating had hit a new low; his Democratic predecessor, Bill Clinton, had joined the chorus criticizing him for misleading the American people about keeping their existing health-care policies; the Washington Post was reporting that healthcare.gov, the benighted Web site that is the source of most of his problems, won’t be fully fixed by the end of the month—something the White House had promised a few weeks ago; and Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, was about to announce that fewer than twenty seven thousand people have enrolled in new insurance plans through the federal online exchange.

The situation is dire alright—arguably the worst moment of Obama’s five-year tenure. But the Hawaiian Houdini still has one thing going for him, and that’s the uncanny tendency of some of his Republican enemies to turn opportunities into calamities. And none is more adept at this party trick than Darrell Edward Issa, the San Diego loudmouth whose House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a public hearing today, which backfired almost immediately.

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