Let’s see if we can figure this out.  Do most “substantial success[es]” require a “tech surge” after a three-and-a-half year rollout?  Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) seems to believe so.  He told Chris Wallace yesterday on Fox News Sunday that the rollout itself might have its issues, but that the program is succeeding, and uses the web traffic as evidence.  Wallace isn’t buying it (via NRO):

A top Senate Democrat said on Sunday that ObamaCare is “on its way to be a substantial success.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, defended the rollout of the healthcare reform law in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” while noting that “it’s off to a rough start with the website.” …

On Saturday evening, the administration announced that 476,000 people had successfully applied for insurance through the government site. However, the Department of Health and Human Services did not disclose precisely how many of those applicants were successfully signed up for insurance.

Wallace jumped all over Durbin for using the traffic and the sign-up figures, which have nothing to do with actual purchases of insurance plans.  Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) wasn’t buying it either:

“I don’t think this plan will work because it’s based on a couple of premises that won’t work,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) replied.

“But when you can’t even put together the package to sign up, that shows how big a job it is for the federal government to manage 16 percent of the economy and people’s health insurance plans. It’s not where the federal government should be.”

CNN’s Don Lemon thinks it might be a success, too … for Republicans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRWftSygbHY

“All they had to do instead of shutting the government down was just let this happen and that would have made their case to them.”

Arguably true, but the shutdown will be forgotten soon enough.  This disaster will continue to unfold all year long.