The story of catherine sibeliuss resignation is top of most news organizations news items. A wellregarded former governor of the state of kansas. She is leaving after months of intense criticism over the botched rollout in the fall of the insurance marketplace. Doing the firestorm, president obama made clear to his aides that he would not seek the resignation of the health secretary. Joining us to break this down is john sullivan. Thank you for being with us is morning. Guest thank you for having me. One of the things is interesting is this caught democrats on capitol hill by surprise. Obama kept within a closeknit circle. Republicans have been calling for her resignation for months waiting dating back to the troubled rollout of the healthcare law last fall, as you mentioned. It seemed like obama was going to stick with her. She has been around for just about five years. It is something that caught people outside of the immediate orbit of the white house by surprise. As we have seen from some of these reports, this is not something that happened overnight. This is something that had been planned for a few weeks. Even within the president s own party, there is a little bit of shock today at this upcoming announcement. Host as you mentioned republicans for months have been saying that catherine stability is to Kathleen Sibelius should be stepping down. Is there different storyline here . Guest i think the fact that she did resign last fall at the height of the problems highlights that this is pretty positive news from the white house. They got seven plus million enrollments that looked almost impossible a few months ago. The white house wants to view this as a turning of the page. Theyre coming off some positive news and they want to have the next chapter of the healthcare debate played out on their terms. Republicans, obviously, are going to betray it this way that this is another sign of the failure of the healthcare law the problems with the healthcare law that they have been talking about for months. Were going to see a fresh round of political debating over what this means from republicans and democrats. Host to think this means we will hear less from republicans about this law . Guest they will find a new target and they will continue to assail president obama himself for spearheading this law. They will continue to target all the democrats voted for this law. It is still seven months before the midterm. As one of the focal points if not the focal point in many of the key senate and house races that are going to decide who has control of the senate is follow. , house races each side picks up. Even though sibelius is gone the issue of health care is not going anywhere. Republicans have money of other targets to pin this law to. Host i want to ask you pick about the president s pick to replace her. She is a current head of omb. Talk about her and what she is likely to bring to this role. Guest she has not been omb director that long. Was positive about her is that she was confirmed unanimously by the senate last year. Not a single senator voted against her. Shes not a controversial pick, and democrats in the white house are hopeful that her confirmation process and democrats and the white house are hopeful that there will not be much opposition. Health care is a precontentious issue. It will be interesting to watch whether republicans now have second thoughts about her or new opposition to the idea of her becoming the age hs secretary. The hhs secretary. I was just wondering if perhaps maybe he asked for her resignation because a week ago she said she was going to stay and. Maybe ask for her resignation to clear the slate of people that have a bad that the republicans were against and out for. Maybe with this new appointee from West Virginia, that my clear little more political room for new blood and new positive thoughts on obamacare. What do you think . Host sean, do think it is a writer differ to step down . Caller i dont know. It seems like one more thing the republicans can say that is bad about obamacare. I just think that he has got other ideas of why it might be a good idea. Everything has its risks, but the good idea might be this new person from West Virginia might be a positive. A lot of people like her on both sides. I dont know. Host right now youre looking at a photo of Sylvia Matthews burwell. Jason melman writes in the the Washington Post lets go now to a comment from twitter. Our topic this morning is the resignation of health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sibelius. It is expected later today. This topic is also getting a lot of play. That is from the opinion page of this mornings the Washington Post the wall street journal. Next this morning is in austin, texas. Aaron is on the line for independents. Caller if you want to tagged her with the face of the bad rollout, getting rid of her is a Political Campaign in getting rid of her and the bad rollout. Just get rid of it completely, but now people dont see the rollout anymore because she is not around. That is all i wanted to say. Host next up is larry hughes in hernando mississippi for democrats. Caller it doesnt matter who he puts in, because the republicans have artie decided that whoever he is for we are against. His latest bobby going to get the same thing sibelius got. Yankee and have a nice day. Host the topic this morning is the resignation of health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sibelius who is expected to resign later today. Another tweet this morning from dana. Lets go to the New York Times next up is susan in virginia on the line for republicans. Caller i just want to say that i do know how any voting citizen in this country can really take anything seriously that is going on up in congress, at least right now, and in the administration. We elect our leaders, and they put people in positions like mrs. Lerner, to fulfill what congress has asked them to fulfill in the different agencies. When something goes awry and someone is able in the federal agency, who works for the federal government, to plead the fifth, i think that says it all. Host java comment about the resignation of Kathleen Sibelius today . Caller no, i dont. I apologize, was that the topic . Host next up, were going to go to charles who is and not the doped juice who is in not the doges, texas. In texas. Caller this resignation symbolizes the failure of the healthcare law. They pushed it down the throats of the American People and the ren studies now shows that obamacare has only covered sent 7 10 of one percent of the uninsured people. The people who have gone on obamacare have gone on with medicaid. These are people who are arty insured, who were forced out of their insurance, who had to take Something Else obamacare. These people who are in the numbers now were not people who were uninsured we still have millions of uninsured people. This bill is a failure and has been from the very start. Host it sounds like you think this resignation is a good thing. Is that right . Caller most definitely. The democrats should have enlisted the help of the republicans in formulating something that would work instead of saying we dont need your help, we will do this ourselves. Now they are begging, help us fix this thing. They shouldve asked that to start with, not now. Host another one of your tweets. Next caller is james in tampa, florida on the line for democrats. Caller give them all next caller is from oklahoma. Caller she did not resign. She was fired to president obama has no management ability or style, and he doesnt want to take responsibility for saying get out of here, because then he would lose womens votes. I were sick i would do something, stay quiet and learn how to run the country. Thank you very much, have a great day. Host eric from universal city, texas is on the line for republicans. Caller i just want to say that this sibelius thing is long overdue. Shes probably to follow along west of other people that have left this administration to become a lobbyist. If anything, we will end up with blue cross and shield which seems to be taking over in texas. They seem to have taken over our health care. Host next caller is in chicago. Karl is on the line for democrats. Caller the resignation of Kathleen Sibelius. People shouldnt think theres anything serious like that. When we were having the most trouble with the Affordable Health care republicans wanted her head. But typically, cabinet members usually leave after about four years. If theres a to term president they never serve the whole time. Just a couple of calls ago someone said that the democrats didnt want the republicans to have anything to do with health care. That is an outright lie. The democrats try to get republicans to be a part of this. The republicans chose that they did not want health care, and they were not going to do anything to get health care passed. These republicans need to remind themselves that they want partners in the process. There are always part of the process. They choose not to participate. Thank you. Host a couple comments from facebook. We are at facebook. Com cspan. The next caller is randy in long beach, california on the line for republicans. Caller hello . Hostess writing down a couple of things. There will was so much said about when the website first opened up. I went into the website in california. I arty have Anthem Blue Cross here, which is excellent. It is actually more expensive. I checked the california site. There are some a different varieties you could get based on your prescription copay and a principle. It was amazing. I found one that i liked that was close to Blue Cross Blue Shield. It is only 750. My Blue Cross Blue Shield is another 500. Ive never had a problem with that, but i sure would like to let my Blue Cross Blue Shield expire and then im going to get one of the california plans that is only 750. I was very surprised. There been so many republicans talking about how bad the system was and it was way too expensive. I found it just the opposite. Host ricardo in maryland on the line for democrats. Caller good morning. The previous caller was saying that republicans always calling and being against obama. There are plenty of times we asked them to come to the table and they refused to do so. They did not shove anything down the throats. [indiscernible] mike is on the line for independents in milford, massachusetts. Caller a resignation has nothing to do with the impact of the Affordable Care act. I think she made a wise move. She launched a plan, a little drop at first as a change in engine medical system. I really think youre getting a lot of hatred for these policies. A lot of it has to do with a lot of lack of knowledge in the south and these republican parties just refuse to open their eyes. It is really sad to be a republican. Host mike, do think her resigning will get rid of any that the trail . That vitriol . Caller no, i dont. Bush put us in a disaster. I think people are still feeling it. You know . Host another story breaking last night. Scott brown made it official. He is running for senate in new hampshire. From the New York Times. Kerry is on the line for republicans. Caller you look really beautiful in red. Now, to the point. I am so sorry to see her go. I believe that she does a wonderful job with a very difficult, important part of our life in health care. I am a woman whose heart stopped three times in 2013. Thanks to the help of many professional people, they started my heart, saved my life and most importantly they gave it back to me better than ever. I would like to talk a little bit about that. I truly believe that as long as washington and republicans and democrats and independents keep drawing those lines in the sand which reminds me of the continents of africa and disaster relief, we will never be able to move forward crossover, which means compromise and compassion and understanding. We would loose change, hope and we would lose change, hope and for the future. I believe that is all i wanted to say. Host city is on the line for democrats from the maryland. Caller would you give me just a few minutes, please . I think Kathleen Sibelius should not have resigned have resigned, because no one can work under that pressure. I was 60 years old when i lost my job. Today i am 67, i have stage four cancer in my liver and in my lungs. The doctors told me that it has been there for a long time. I couldnt get any insurance, so i couldnt go to have the screening done that was necessary. So i am really feeling like the people who are against the health care should take another look because it is saving a lot of lives. That is all i wanted to say. Host another story. This is from the associated press. Next caller is less from detroit, michigan on the line for independents. Caller when people realize that you come into service for the president , this is only temporary. She was called into service to do a job. Her job is done, not shes going back to the private sector. It not the first time this has happened that people resigned after they have done their job. They move on. It is kind of strange that when Lyndon Johnson signed the civil rights bill, this bill came in kicking and screaming. It seems like america is not ready for chris. For progress. Everybody in the whole world has Progressive Health care except for us. We are supposed to be the progressive nation. I hope these people in america wake up, wake up, republicans wake up. This is good for america to have health care. Your family needs it. Everybody needs health care. She did an excellent job of pulling together, now she is stepping down. That is all. Host we will go back to calls in just a minute. We want to bring in another journalist to talk about this news. Joining us is bob qs act. He is managing editor of the hill newspaper. Kathleen sibelius is stepping down. So far, what are we hearing from capitol hill . Guest is a kind of interesting unified message. They are saying she had an impossible job because the Affordable Care act is just a program that can not work. No one can implement that. That is a different tone that we have seen over the last several certainly the last six months. Democrats are thanking her. Democrats behind the scenes are very frustrated with her job performance. She is going to go down as one of the most controversial hhs secretaries of all time. She had to implement one of the most controversial laws of all time. A mixed Public Statement republicans are clearly indicating that they are going to continue to hammer obamacare but democrats, at least publicly, thanking her for their service. This was a surprise because she had recently indicated that should be staying till november. Democrats want to keep the senate. If youre good to get rid of a controversial cabinet official you have to do it well before the elections, not after. Some democrats on capitol hill certainly happy that shes departing. Host Kathleen Sibelius is the former governor of kansas. Given what we have seen with her in the health care allow rollout, bob, do think she has any political future . Guest i dont. I dont think she could run for another high office. Im sure she will remain active in politics, and she is an expert on health care law. I am sure she will take time off. We will see her again. It is hard to see her running successfully for elected office. As you mentioned, she was the governor of a red state. Had the support which he came in of her home state, including pat roberts who included her at it confirmation hearing. Robertson is facing a tough primary. He called for her to step aside. An old friend in pat roberts and sibelius. That friendship has been frayed by the politics of the Affordable Care act. Host lets talk about Sylvia Matthews burwell. What we know about her and how she will be engaged particularly with republicans on capitol hill. Guest she is respected on both sides of the aisle. Sibelius came in and was controversial. She had a rocky confirmation process. Areburwell was unanimously confirmed as omb chief. She has worked well with republicans on capitol hill. She is a veteran of the clinton administration. She worked at the treasury department. As far as drag health care direct health care hhs issues, she has no backbone and glaground in that. This is a noncontroversial pick, but that does not mean this will not be a rocky public a rocky confirmation process. As far as nominating someone who is not controversial burwell was a very good pick. Host we have talked about the potency of the argument of the healthcare law. With Kathleen Sibelius stepping down, Sylvia Matthews are well coming in, what does that say . Guest theres a chance or the democrats could turn the page. They have had a lot of bad news over the last six months. The biggest one was the debacle as sibelius herself called it of the rollout of the website. The problem is that this law is unpopular. It hasnt been able to jumpstart. Democrats have been saying for years, just wait, just wait, it will get popular. We have not seen that. Not you have the good news for the white house certainly. When president obama went out on the rose garden and trumpeted the fact that over 7 Million People were enrolled, Kathleen Sibelius was there and he didnt mention her by name. That got some people talking. Some democrats are going to view this as, ok, we can turn the page. Now that that tenure is over, may be burwell can help this law. Weird but to be getting news and soon of premiums. Whether hearing from insurance executives that premiums are going to go up and in some states it could automatically. That is one to watch over the next couple of months. Host thanks for being with us this morning mr. Qscusack. Caller i think obamacare is a balloon where floating on. He is really just letting us fly. It is all a bunch of