Reid says he's just following the law- the law that congress made to exempt congressional workers from joining the exchange.  In the second article white house staffers cheer for bama-is it me or are these guys madmen?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/04/politics/reid-obamacare-staff/index.html

Washington (CNN) -- Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, one of Obamacare's architects and staunchest supporters, is also the only top congressional leader to exempt some of his staff from having to buy insurance through the law's new exchanges.

Reid is the exception among the other top congressional leaders. GOP House Speaker John Boehner, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have all directed their staffs to join the exchange, their aides said.

After website woes, President pushes benefits of Obamacare

In the charged atmosphere surrounding Obamacare, Reid's decision only gives Republicans more ammo to attack Democrats already suffering politically from the law's botched rollout.

In September, Reid told reporters, "Let's stop these really juvenile political games -- the one dealing with health care for senators and House members and our staff. We are going to be part of exchanges, that's what the law says and we'll be part of that."

What did W.H. know before the launch?

Reselling the Affordable Care Act

Bill Clinton on Obamacare Progress

With website deadline met, Obamacare scrutiny increases

That's true. Reid and his personal staff will buy insurance through the exchange.

But it's also true that the law lets lawmakers decide if their committee and leadership staffers hold on to their federal employee insurance plans, an option Reid has exercised.

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson emphasized, "We are just following the law."

President leads the cheers for himself

Finally, after two months of horror, President Obama heard cheering when he discussed ObamaCare.

OK, so the cheering came from members of his own staff, who were assembled in the White House briefing room to hear him speak Tuesday afternoon. But listen, the guy has had a hard time since Oct. 1; he can use all the cheering he can get.

The speech was promoted as part of an aggressive new effort to promote ObamaCare following the repairs (far from completed) made to the HealthCare.gov Web site. If that was the intent, it was a colossal failure.

The president said nothing — and I mean literally nothing — he hasn’t said before in defense of ObamaCare. He delivered the same tribute to its glories and wonders I’ve heard him give so many times now, I could’ve written it myself.

No, in truth, yesterday wasn’t about ObamaCare. It was about Obama. It was about bucking up the boss. It was about showing him some love.

The fact that Obama was in on the tribute to himself only adds to the poignancy. You have to be a little desperate to agree to organize and promote a support rally to boost your own spirits.

He got the applause he wanted. He got the love he needed. He got MSNBC talk personalities to speak admiringly of him. So by those standards, if by no other, the speech was a roaring success.

It may even have kicked off a new lifestyle trend: Are you a boss? Things getting you down? Have a pep rally in the staff cafeteria and make sure your staff gives you a big round of applause!

The event began with some of those ordinary folk who can claim to have benefited from ObamaCare already. One of them was a young woman named Monica (no, not that Monica) who has Crohn’s disease. She said that ObamaCare had had such a positive effect on her life, since she can stay on her parents’ insurance until she’s 26, that she can now pursue photography as a career.

Well, that was worth the whole $1.8 trillion ObamaCare price tag right there.

Then the president got up. As he has since the Web-site catastrophe began, he acknowledged the problems up front before moving on quickly to the great achievements of ObamaCare, including 500,000 newly insured people.

He did not mention the 1 million-plus in California whose policies have been cancelled, of course, but why should he? This was his day, his chance to shine, his turn to tell the story — it would be ungenerous to cavil.

“My main message today is we’re not going back,” Obama said. “We’re not repealing it as long as I’m president.” This is the sentence that caused the standing ovation. If the president has been reduced to defiant statements that he’s not going to do something no one expects him to do, and that no one expects will happen, he’s in worse shape than even Ted Cruz hopes.

Now that he’s had his little pep rally, President Obama would be well-advised to go under the radar again for a while. According to Gallup, the more facts people know about ObamaCare, the less likely they are to support it.

It would appear that it’s better for the president if people live in blissful ignorance rather than horrified awareness.