Would Healthcare.gov have worked if the Obama campaign had been in charge?

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act have been among the most eager to point out the system's greatest irony: It was President Barack Obama, who sailed into office on the back of a sophisticated digital campaign, that oversaw Healthcare.gov's botched kick-off. How could the Obama Administration have failed so publicly when his campaign spoke Internet so fluently -- and would it have made any difference if Obama for America had been in control?

It's easy to attribute omnipotence to the Obama campaign in hindsight. Yes, the campaign had an army of data analysts and programmers at its disposal. It had a Web-centric culture. But that alone wouldn't have made building Healthcare.gov any easier. Campaigns, by their nature, have to be nimble -- they're good at responding to attacks, dishing out their own and reallocating resources as a race develops. Agility isn't a hallmark of government, however. There are requirements and regulations to follow when it comes to procurement, oversight and other pesky matters of state. And perhaps that's partly why the idea of OFA building the Obamacare site is so seductive. If only Washington operated more like a startup -- if only it could move faster and break things -- we might have a better insurance portal.