From a purple stater

Following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, my political views took a hard turn to the right.

I suspect I was not alone in that sentiment.

Granted George Bush is an intellectual lightweight, long on faith but short on morality, but at least he took a definitive stance against Arab terrorism.

And yes, we should have focused on Al Queda in Afghanistan and not ventured into Iraq. But there is no arguing that the world is a better and safer place without Saddam Hussein. No weapons of mass destruction were found, but you'd also have a hard time finding the 300,000 Kurds murdered by Saddam.

Recently, we have witnessed the onset of the Arab Spring and the failed revolutions in Libya and Egypt. I still believe that Arab political incompetence, the millineum-old Shia-Sunni rift and Islamic fundamentalism represent the greatest threat to mankind.

But I'm no Bush apologist.

And his bungling of the war efforts, his handling of the Katrina crises and his failure to avert the financial meltdown in 2007/2008 have swung me back to the left.

I couldn't be happier that President Obama has abolished "don't ask, don't tell". Or, that he doesn't create policy based on whispers in his ear from God. Or, that he believes all Americans should have some form of health care.

Frankly, I don't understand the Republican opposition to this. We spend trillions of dollars defending against foreign invaders or foreign attacks. Is it that different than foreign bacteria? Particularly, if the result, in all cases, is dead Americans.

Perhaps the Affordable Care Act should have been packaged as a defense expenditure?

But the pendulum has not stopped swinging.

Good intentions will only go so far. The roll out of Obamacare looks like it was commandeered by Captain Hazelwood, of Exxon Valdez fame.

It's a complete facepalm.

On the facepalm scale of 1-10, the failed rollout is a 25,732, the number of Americans who have successfully navigated the website and signed up for the plan.

Between the forced cancellations and the enrollment website debacle, I don't know how the President can show his face in public anymore. I'm just spitballing here, but perhaps he could have put off one golf outing and had Kathleen Sebelius walk him through the wire frames before launching the site.

If the President is smart, and I believe he is, he should turn this into an opportunity to demonstrate bi-partisanship. In order to make his self-imposed deadline of a complete fix by November 30, maybe he should appoint a Republican with proven leadership ability and administrative prowess.

Yes, she is functionally brain dead and would have a hard time with the Sudoku puzzle in the back of a Club Penguin Pamphlet.

But seriously, could she do any worse?