NEW YORK TIMES: …The White House frustration with Ms. Sebelius crystallized by Thanksgiving, as it became clear in Washington that she would eventually have to go. Republicans were brutalizing her at congressional hearings. The health care website’s problems were consuming the White House. Under mounting pressure from congressional Democrats panicking about the fallout from the health care debacle on their fall campaigns, Mr. Obama had already brought in Jeffrey D. Zients, a management guru, to take control of the crisis from Ms. Sebelius…
“Yes, we lost the first quarter of open enrollment period with the problems with HealthCare.gov — and they were problems,” Mr. Obama conceded. “But under Kathleen’s leadership, her team at H.H.S. turned the corner, got it fixed, got the job done, and the final score speaks for itself: There are 7.5 million people across the country that have the security of health insurance, most of them for the very first time.”
White House officials — who in private have often complained about Ms. Sebelius’s management failings and lack of political antennas — emphasized the positive on Friday, saying that no one had done more to make the long-sought hope of a national health care overhaul a reality. Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff, said that the president and Ms. Sebelius remained close despite — or maybe because of — the political mess they had endured together… (more)
