President Obama needs some Silicon Valley advice on health care tech problem

[Commentary] Calling Silicon Valley. If President Obama isn't doing this already, he should be.

The clunky start for the federal health care exchange's online system has done more to discredit Obama's signature accomplishment than the tea party, death panels and all. It's the worst product launch since Microsoft Vista in 2007 -- and as to which tech nightmare was worse, next time the president chats with Bill Gates, he has bragging rights. It's not even close. President Obama says he's getting his top IT people on it. Where were they for the past two years? If President Obama does call the Valley this week, it might actually make him feel better. Veterans of tech rollouts would tell him not to hit the panic button. Give the IT guys the resources, and they almost always get things working in the end. The question, with this and other technology based start-ups, is whether the product is sufficiently worthwhile that users will be patient while the bugs are worked out. If they're not, then it won't matter if quality, efficient, cost-effective health care was available.