The political elitists in Washington are worried that the American people are lukewarm – or even downright hostile – about Obamacare.
You can imagine two of them having a conversation, with the first saying, “Don’t these stupid peasants realize we’re giving them stuff?!?” and the second responding “We need the riff-raff in flyover country to feel grateful so they’re more likely to vote in favor of continued dependency!”
It never occurs to them that maybe, just maybe, people value freedom. Or, even if they don’t care about liberty, perhaps they object to the fact that government costs a lot and delivers very little. Nobody likes paying for a steak and getting a hamburger, after all.
But the statists think it’s just a matter of messaging, and this mindset is even seen in news coverage.
Here’s some of what Politico wrote today.
The Obama administration and its health-law allies are gearing up this summer to slice through three years of confusion and opposition to Obamacare. They’ve got their work cut out for them. Obamacare won’t have a shot at success unless millions of people sign up for insurance — the healthy as well as the sick. …Organizing for Action, spun off from President Barack Obama’s campaign operation, went up with a seven-figure TV ad buy in June, touting the new benefits and promising to offer “the truth” about the law. Enroll America, a nonprofit group with ties to the White House, wants to leverage the grass roots across the country and engage big-name celebrities for the cause.
To put it mildly, they have their work cut out for them.
Thanks to absurd regulations and mandates that prevent the insurance market from working properly, young people and healthy people will have to pay far more than the market rate to obtain insurance.
Needless to say, not that many people will be dumb enough to take that deal, regardless of how many empty-headed Hollywood millionaires take part in a PR campaign telling them it’s the “cool” thing to do.
Especially when another brainless part of Obamacare basically allows people to wait until they get sick and then get insurance. If you’re wondering how that will work, just imagine how auto insurance would work if you could wait until after your DUI accident to get a policy – and you got subsidized by all the responsible drivers!
Obamacare defenders may delude themselves into believing that the mandate will work, but the penalty for noncompliance (oops, apologies Chief Justice Roberts, I meant the “tax” for noncompliance) is a lot less than the cost of an insurance policy.
And I don’t think the American people will be pleased when the army of new IRS agents starts harassing them to sign up for a bad deal.
It’s almost enough to make me feel sorry for the hacks at OFA and elsewhere who are trying to sell this lemon.
Simply stated, it doesn’t matter how much lipstick you put on a pig.
Let’s close with some amusing Obamacare cartoons, starting with one by Bob Gorrell which sort of shows how the IRS will enforce the new law.
By the way, my favorite IRS-related Obamacare cartoon can be seen here.
Here’s a good cartoon by Steve Breen about the cost of the new law.
For what it’s worth, some of us were predicting runaway costs even before the legislation was enacted.
Let’s finish with this amusing cartoon by Gary Varvel. Technically speaking, Nancy Pelosi was right.
Though I imagine she thinks we just need some clever messaging so we understand why it’s okay that bad things are happening to children, retirees, and low-income workers.
Let’s conclude with some optimism. Click here to read my six-part hypothesis on why this bad law can be repealed.
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it seems the Obama administration is worried about the next election cycle… imagine that…
“Obama admin delays major requirement of health law”:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HEALTH_OVERHAUL_DELAY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-07-02-21-00-05
When Obamacare fails, we must have a patient/doctor alternative, not the failed “free market” third-party payer alternatives; otherwise we risk a government run single-payer takeover.
For more on a “Group Self-Insurance” alternative see:
Good points, Katherine! (You, too, Dan).
They need healthy young men paying for insurance, thus the push on the sports teams. A good idea sells itself, Obamacare is not that, there fore the hard sell.
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Reblogged this on Public Secrets and commented:
You can bet your bottom dollar that, when the Republicans retake Congress and the White House and move to repeal Obamacare, Democrats will run to the mics to plead that it only needs “a few fixes.” Bunk. It’s a monstrosity and has got to go. Mitchell’s right: the problem isn’t Obamacare’s “messaging;” the problem is Obamacare.
Reblogged this on U.S. Constitutional Free Press.