Politics

Obama wants a seat at your Thanksgiving dinner

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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America’s families will soon get their turkey, potatoes and cranberries at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners — but some will also get a tableside political pitch for the Obamacare insurance network.

President Barack Obama’s deputies at Organizing for Action are urging supporters to give an Obamacare pitch to their relatives during the most iconic of American family and religious events.

“Take advantage of downtime after meals or between holiday activities to start your talk,” says OFA’s marketing script, titled “Health Care for the Holidays.”

At Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, “people will be under the “misconception that the government-designed health-payment plans are too expensive,” says the presidential pitch, which was emailed out on Nov. 23.

“Tell them: There are a variety of plans available in the new health insurance marketplace, so you can pick one that fits your budget. There’s also financial assistance available based on how much you make,” says OFA’s script.

Obama’s effort to push his political priorities into Americans’ private family and religious events reflects his determination to take over the nation’s health-care sector.

Obama and his progressives allies believe that average Americans need their professional, university-learned and well-paid skills to manage their lives.  That’s very different from Americans’ evolved popular culture, which declares that families are best able to help young people develop good character.

The progressives’ determination to gatecrash iconic family events reflects self-confidence in their own expertise, their long-held pity and contempt for ordinary Americans and for the institution of family, plus their ability to attract young people to their cause.

But it also shows how Obama and his deputies are worried that their trouble-plagued Obamacare network is in peril.

The online script tries to build up the confidence of young people nervous about making the dinner-table pitch. “If you have family members who are uninsured, you can play a big part in helping them find coverage that works for them. It might not always seem like it, but your family listens to you. So have the talk,” isays the pitch.

The pitch was previewed Nov. 18 by Sara El-Amine, OFA’s national training director at Organizing for Action. “We all have that uncle or that cousin who needs to be convinced or who needs health-insurance… so [OFA volunteers have begun to] practice those sometime-hard conversations,” she said in a phone call to OFA’s volunteers.

“If every person on this call committed to something small, like talking to your uninsured cousin or nephew at the Thanksgiving table, think about the impact we could have,” she said.

“We’re not going to be able to fight this fight without you,” she told the volunteers, who had gathered to hear a statement from their leader, Obama.

The online script glosses over the many problems with the Obamacare website. But it urges supporters to ask relatives to bring personal information, such as Social Security Numbers, to the dinner so they can use the family computer to join Obamacare after dessert.

The OFA script includes a short video, in which two drab parents urge their friendless young son to buy health-insurance, while they eat Obamacare-compliant small portions of drab food.

The script downplays the cost of Obamacare premiums and deductibles, which are especially high for young, healthy people.

The Obamacare system depends on the monthly Obamcare tax payments from young and healthy people, many of whom are already struggling to save money, get married, pay off student loans or even get a full-time job in stalled economy.

Young peoples’ Obamacare taxes are used to offset the huge cost of providing very expensive insurance to Democrat-leaning groups of immigrants, unskilled, unmarried or sick people.

Other regimes have used children to help government penetrate private family and religious events.

One extreme example is provided by the violent rulers of the Soviet Union, who urged the nation’s children to follow the fabricated example of 14 year-old Pavel Morozov. The boy, according to the official Soviet investigation of his death in 1932, was killed by relatives after he called the secret police to arrest his father for illegal activities. The father was shot after a trial, according to the fabricated story.

Four of his Morozov’s relatives were reputedly shot by the Soviet government to help boost the story, which was used to persuade millions of kids to be loyal to government rather than to their families.

Obama’s determination to pitch his Obamacare program is now tinged with desperation, following the public’s recognition that Obama’s university-trained aides spectacularly failed to manage a staged rollout of the Obamacare network, despite three years of planning.

In recent weeks, Obama’s ratings have plunged down to roughly 40 percent, following the public’s recognition that he lied when he said in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2103 that Americans would be able to keep their insurance plans and doctors after the Obamcare networks is established.

Many Americans’ access to their healthcare is being reduced by Obamacare’s crippled malfunctioning website, by large price spikes, by shrinking access to doctors and reduced marketplace choices.

GOP legislators are trying to develop a replacement system, that would provide large tax-breaks to help people to buy health-insurance from any qualified company in the nation. The GOP alternative would provide federal money to help sick people offset the cost of debilitating medical conditions, and allow them to keep their insurance when they lose or change jobs.

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Neil Munro