(Vox) -- On Thursday, I stated the obvious: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's resignation was timed to follow news of Obamacare's surprising success signing up 7.5 million people for private insurance.
Conventional wisdom was that Sebelius would resign back in October or November, when Healthcare.gov was a mess and the White House needed a scapegoat. Like many others, I thought Sebelius — and a few others — should be fired.
But for better or worse, President Obama doesn't like to fire people amidst crises, even if the crises are partly their fault. And so Sebelius's resignation, coming on the heels of a rush of good news for Obamacare, is evidence that the White House considers the Obamacare crisis is over. With 7.5 million people (and rising!) signed up for the insurance exchanges and 3.5 million people (and rising!) signed up for Medicaid the law is likely here to stay — which means the White House can finally exhale, and begin changing the team that runs it.
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