Remember when Jon Stewart said that the term “Obamacare” is somehow derogatory? And remember how nobody bothered to ask him why this would be? If Obama is good and the health care law he pushed for over a year is good, how come combining the two into one word is not good?
Well, it looks like this latest attempt to solve a PR problem by changing its name is taking hold. And I got to watch it live on Twitter!
Yesterday, I had the following conversation with ABC’s Jake Tapper. Initially he tweeted:
Some liberal tweeps objecting to use of term “Obamacare” by contributor to my blog. No offense was intended by her, but we will change.
(You can find the post in question here. It’s now titled “Sebelius Defends Health Care Reform Law, Files First Response to State Challenge,” but it’s still “Sebelius Defends Obamacare” in the URL.)
And I saw that and I was all like:
Why?
To which he replied, not unreasonably:
why what?
So I tried to expand on my question:
Why would it be offensive, and why will you change?
Which part is offensive, “Obama” or “care”? If both are good, why are they bad when combined?
Allahpundit had a similar question:
Where did this moronic “ObamaCare is offensive” meme originate?
These and similar questions brought this answer from Tapper:
I try to be respectful to both sides. Some find that term pejorative. End of story. Take it up with the WH + Dems.
I assume he means we need to ask the White House and Democrats why they find the term “Obamacare” pejorative, not why he agrees with them.
Jake Tapper is one of the few big-media figures who takes the time to answer his critics online, and I respect him for that. But I really don’t understand his reasoning on this. Since when is it his job to help one side or the other define the terms of the debate? Sure, Jon Stewart tried to compare “Obamacare” to “teabaggers,” but that makes no sense. For one thing, people who are offended by “teabaggers” can explain why they’re offended. Okay, then, why is “Obamacare” offensive? Was “Reaganomics” offensive? If not, how in the world is this different?
Obama is unpopular with the public. The health care law he spent so much time and so much political capital pushing is unpopular with the public. Chastising people for calling it “Obamacare,” or capitulating to the chastisers, will not change either fact.
P.S. Obamacare.
P.P.S. I like Doc Zero’s theory: “Deliberately or subconsciously, the Left is already looking forward to the post-Obama era, and beginning the process of gently airbrushing certain aspects of his tenure from public memory… They wouldn’t have wanted the Department of Education to be named after Jimmy Carter, either.”