As some of you may know, my brother John and I went to Denver last weekend to visit my sister Katie. On the interminable drive back from the airport which is located out on the Nebraska plains, we chatted about current events, as we are all political junkies. John asked us if we knew who, years from now, would be identified as Obama’s most hated man. We didn’t know and he told us to guess.
“Karl Rove?” Nope.
“John Boehner?” Nope.
“George W.?” Nope.
Okay, who?
He said, “John Roberts”
What?
Let me now present John’s theory:
It’s June 28, 2012, the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) was passed in March, 2010. The final bill is not what either side would have liked but it was passed and signed into law as President Obama’s signature domestic policy triumph. After months of arguing and bartering and lawsuits from 27 states the issue has made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court’s decision is expected any moment.
We see the President in the private family quarters watching Dancing with the Stars no Keeping Up with the Kardashians no Bill O’Reilly NO MacNeill/Lehrer no wait it’s Lehrer News no. We see the President chatting with his girls about plans for summer vacation. There is a knock on the door and Chief of Staff Jack Lew enters the room.
“Mr. President, a word?” asks Lew.
The President shoos the girls out of the room and waits for Lew to speak.
“The Court has handed down the opinion on the ACA.”
Obama waits.
“The opinion is in our favor! The ACA is constitutional according to the Court!”
Lew smiles waiting for Obama to exult over the decision.
Obama frowns and shakes his head as if to clear cobwebs.
“What?” he asks sharply.
Lew is taken aback. “Uh, the Court, voted in our favor. We can continue the implementation of the law.”
Obama furrows his brow and and looks at his hand, counting on his fingers, he mumbles to himself, “There’s Scalia, Alito, Thomas, well Kennedy probably… Jack, who wrote the opinion?”
“Chief Justice Roberts, sir.” answers Lew.
“Are you kidding me?! There’s no way that Court voted in favor of ACA!” growls President Obama.
“Well sir, Roberts identified the individual mandate as a tax so even though you have repeatedly said this is not a tax, as long as it’s a tax, it’s constitutional. So they ruled in our favor despite the incredibly feeble argument put up by the government’s lawyers!”
“I can’t believe Roberts went for it. Shit, well make some calls, we better start some kind of website.”
And the rest is becoming history.
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HAHAHAHAHA
What? I think it’s funny!
Did You Misc. Maggie? 
It would be funny, except that is hurting, panicking and generally making life hell for people who are already on the margins (people who have preexisting conditions, small business people who are self-employed, people supporting family members with disabilities…. etc.) If you actually listen to what these actual people are telling everyone as they try to sign up for Obamacare.
It is hurting the people that the public most WANTS to support. It is heartbreaking to hear their stories as they get jerked around by this administration. If this isn’t messig with you yet, you might want to check on this…. your plan is also getting canceled this time next year.
Well I was just going for the comedy here. 🙂
Nevermind that the plan is virtually identical to some of the more prominent state health care plans being enacted by many Republican govenors…
Nevermind that it’s rolling out with the exact same issues as those plans and with about the same enrollment rates…
I’m actually remarkably okay with the ACA (SUPER LIBERAL GUY HERE). My rates have gone down, considerably.
For the record, I saw the humor – and laughed. Another well written post.
Thanks it really was just meant for fun because I thought my brother’s take on the John Roberts thing was clever. I’m not super conservative but not a fan of this approach to fixing healthcare’s ills.
Thank you again!
You’re very welcome. Humor is usually the best approach when dealing with politics – at least that’s what I’ve always found.
If you could draw you’d be the female Garry Trudeau. ACK!
Ack sounds like bill the cat from Bloom County. I’m good with either one 🙂 xo
I thought this was funny. I thought the part about Obama watching the Kardashians was funny. hehe. I think politics are funny. I”m ‘Merican.
Recently I was watching Anderson Cooper and he and his panel were talking to a Canadian reporter about the CrackHead mayor of Toronto and we ‘mericans were laughing our asses off and the Canadian didn’t think we were so funny. hahahaha
On a related topic, did you hear that the Cover Oregon website has not had one single processed applications since its inception? Ouch.
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