What does it say about a president whose major piece of legislation becomes the country’s longest running joke? Maybe that our commander-in-chief can command a comedy club better than a country.
Obamacare. The mere name is beginning to produce a smirk. It’s been spoofed by late-night comedy shows, mocked by cartoons, made into a song...and even used as Halloween decorations.
When a law becomes more known for its glitches than its goals or more laughed at than lauded, it’s hard to imagine it will be on the right side of history -- along with the president whose name is attached to it.
It’s the joke that keeps on giving. To recap:
First it was the unfortunate 800 number:
As the Daily Caller informed us, if we needed healthcare, it was easy as picking up the phone and dialing, 1-800-F*CKYO.
Then it was the broken website:
Country Music Awards hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood weren’t afraid to lump Miley Cyrus’s twerking in the same category as Obamacare when they sung “Obamacare by Morning,” a spoof of George Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning,” mocking the interminable wait users have experienced trying to sign up for health care on the error-ridden healthcare.gov website. When even a national music awards show deems it appropriate and acceptable to mock the president and his pithy law while millions of Americans are tuned in, perhaps Obama is losing the appeal he once had.
Then came Kathleen Sebelius:
Guy dedicated a whole post to the HHS Secretary's top failures in her first hearing trying to explain healthcare.gov’s glitches. Among a host of embarrassing moments, Sebelius insisted the website “had never crashed.” The site, however, was down during her own testimony.
And late-night comedy shows couldn’t resist:
Jon Stewart said even Democrats “can’t spin this turd,” (I know Stewart told the media he doesn’t want us using him to criticize the president. But oh well.) Jay Leno called the president’s health care law “a** backwards” and, comparing Obama’s dismal poll numbers with the recently disgraced mayor of Toronto, joked the president would be “better off smoking crack than passing Obamacare.”
Saturday Night Live dedicated not one but two opening skits to Obamacare’s misleading legislation.
Comedians aren’t the only ones who think Obamacare is funny. The American people agree the health care law needs no punch line. A recent Fox News poll revealed 60 percent of voters think the law’s implementation is a joke.
What did the president expect when he rushed to get this through Congress? Before tackling the economy, before immigration reform - it was health care. He had to make sure to push through those 2,000 pages of the Affordable Care Act -- a bill about as well-written as its website was coded -- before our representatives had ample time to read it. Well, now he’s paying the not-so-humorous consequences.
A viral SNL video or a CMA hit is probably not the legacy Obama wants to leave regarding his sweeping health care law. But, if healthcare.gov isn’t fixed anytime soon, it seems the law’s mistakes will continue to consume and define his presidency.
Amazingly, he doesn’t seem all that concerned. This Thursday, the president still claimed, “We are making the health insurance market better for everybody.”
Maybe he’s in on the joke.