Apparently President Barack Obama’s speechwriters thought repeating the phrase “pass this bill” over and over again would magically resonate with members of Congress. The president used the line 17 times in his Thursday night address.
Did he overdo it?
On Friday’s “Rush Limbaugh Show,” fill-in host Mark Steyn said that catchphrase was more reminiscent of an infomercial than a presidential proclamation.
“His great catchphrase is, ‘Pass this bill. Pass this bill now,’ which Mr. [Bo] Snerdly said reminded him of Billy Mays,” Steyn said. “He was the pitchman for what was it again? Yeah, OxyClean. ‘Pass this bill! If you call to pass this bill in the next 15 minutes, we will throw in a free Ginsu [knife] so you can slash your wrists if this speech hasn’t wrapped up in the next 25 minutes. Call 1-800-American-Jobs-Act-Now and you can pass this bill. Pass this bill, pass this bill now, pass this bill now, pass this bill now.’”
Despite Obama’s pleas to “pass this bill,” there is no bill. Steyn says this presents a problem.
“There is no bill – that’s even better,” Steyn said. “We have to agree to his demand to pass this bill before we can find out what’s in it. There is no bill. He doesn’t put anything on paper. That would be asking too much of him. It exists on the teleprompter. It’s on the teleprompter, but it doesn’t exist on paper. There is no bill. You can’t pass a teleprompter. It’s not in the U.S. Constitution.”