Politics

BEDFORD: Mr. Obama’s 21 Days of Christmas

Christopher Bedford Former Editor in Chief, The Daily Caller News Foundation
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Five years in, President Barack Obama has lost his Messianic sheen. From NSA to ACA, it turns out he actually can do wrong. But that doesn’t mean he’s lost his fondness for the good old days, and on Tuesday, Americans learned about their newest holiday: Mr. Obama’s 21 days of Christmas.

Because on the first day of Christmas Tuesday, the president and his allies launched a campaign to explain to Americans “a different benefit each day until the Dec. 23 enrollment deadline.” Just like an Advent calendar, but instead of stale chocolate, each morning’s surprise is Obamacare. Because from family feuds to declining church attendance, Christmas fixes everything, right?

The folks at MSNBC are in such a Christmas Obamacare spirit, they even made their own Advent calendar to count down the days

This really played.

This really played.

The details on the campaign are still scant (shh! it’s a surprise), but on the second day of Christmas, the president will head to American University to review the troops. There, on the hallowed ground where the late Sen. Ted Kennedy first endorsed him for president, Mr. Obama will sit through an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. The most uncomfortable part will be talking with a man who gets a “shiver” up his leg at the thought of the president. (RELATED: Will this be Chris Matthews’ creepiest interview yet?)

On the third day of Christmas, Mr. Obama plans to repeat talking points on pre-existing conditions; on the fourth day of Christmas, he’ll repeat the cheaper health care lie; and on the fifth day of Christmas, five golden rings. And all played to the “drumbeat” of the little drummer boy Organizing for Action, which is launching a digital blitz to support their man in the White House.

But honestly, why shouldn’t Democrats think this will work? From unaltered Social Security to unlimited food stamps, progressives have spent 70 years dressing up as Santa and playing make believe (and with quite a bit of success, really). (RELATED: Obamacare likely to also increase food stamp, welfare participation)

The nation’s biggest threat is from the spiraling costs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but when people don’t feel immediate pain for things — or when the pain is dispersed across millions — they’re unlikely to punish it at the ballot box. But while the deep problems with the welfare state can be gussied up for decades, there’s no way to put a ribbon on Obamacare.

All through the past two months, millions of people have lost their health insurance and their doctors. And even if the White House has made gains in improving their bug-ridden website, the real-world problems are only set to increase.

And then there’s the round of 50 to 100 million cancellations we can expect next year when the business mandates kick in.

And then there’s how even those parts of Obamacare that Democrats tout — like more people on Medicaid — will lead to doctor shortages.

And then there’s that catch where it’s going to be illegal to provide subsidies to states without exchanges, so the plans are going to be too expensive to buy. (RELATED: Obamacare back in court Tuesday)

Because Obamacare isn’t the traditional liberal welfare plan that simply transfers wealth through taxation over dozens of years. Nor is it a regulation that directly affects the livelihoods of only a select number of Americans. Obamacare is a massive federal takeover of an industry most Americans are intimately connected to — and it’s right here, and it’s right now.

On second thought, the countdown to Obamacare is a little bit like Advent: Except at the end of all the sweet nothings, it isn’t going to be our savior in a manger — it will be the president barreling down our chimneys.

And, like many Christmases, it’s going to be pricey.

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