Bob Franken

When he declared, “No one is madder about the website than I am,” President Barack Obama delivered the line with his usual unemotional cool. But apparently he sent out some strong signals. The woman standing behind him who was reduced to one of those awful Washington human props started to faint. Maybe she picked up on his anger. His displeasure is certainly justified.

The bureaucrats, the contractors and the geeks have managed to make an unholy mess of his legacy-defining health-care reform, just as it was beginning to get off the ground. The excuse that the all-important website was a massiv...