'Healthcare for the Holidays': Obama's New Campaign
Obama concluded a telephone call last night with 200,000 soldiers in his Organizing for America (OFA) army -- the outfit that got him re-elected in 2012. After listening in, conservatives might want to tone down on the schadenfreude and hold off dancing in the end zone at this moment -- we have a long battle ahead and are facing a well-equipped, experienced foe.
Obama vowed to tackle the ObamaCare enrollment deficit by doing what he does best: approaching it as a campaign.
He is relying on hundreds of thousands of OFA mercenaries from the War of 2012 to enroll as many people as they can in the next few months. The campaign is called "Healthcare for the Holidays" (aka "Enrollment by Eggnog"). While Obama is confident that healthcare.gov will be functioning for the vast majority of folks by month's end, he warned that they won't be able to sign up enough people on the website alone. As they "always understood," they will need to enroll people by mail, by phone, and in person.
This is where the troops come in: Obama told us he needed our "help, faith, and energy" during the holidays to reach out to neighbors -- to have conversations with them at the holiday dinner table, at the office holiday party, and at churches and synagogues. By helping them sign up and get the coverage they don't have, Obama promised, "you are gonna save someone's life."
Give the gift of ObamaCare.
Local chapters have already conducted trainings in their communities to enroll the uninsured, the OFA website is plush with helpful information to guide volunteers and answer questions, and cooperation is already underway with Enroll America, the SEIU, Planned Parenthood, and other local community groups across the country (including churches and synagogues) with whom OFA has partnered.
The entire infrastructure for this campaign has been carried over from the 2012 presidential election. We all remember how that went.
This also explains the e-mail many people I know recently received from their synagogue asking them to fill out a short survey of questions about health care. The people at the temple coordinating this effort wanted to "understand [the] congregation's healthcare needs, raise awareness and provide access to those who need it." They are affiliated with an umbrella community organizing group that has about 20 other churches, synagogues, and non-profits working together. The umbrella organization is formally affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) -- the community organizing group founded by Saul Alinsky that trained a young Barack Obama.
The e-mail from the synagogue continued:
Reliable, affordable healthcare is essential to a vital, and productive life -- it is a right we all deserve. Help us reach our goal of helping our fellow [name of synagogue] members and those in our...community gain access to health insurance.
During "Healthcare for the Holidays," don't be surprised if your church or synagogue functions as a full-blown ObamaCare navigator "dressed in holiday style." Obama's little "community organizing" elves will be busily working behind closed doors advancing ObamaCare in the name of social justice, bringing holiday health-cheer and joy to all.
America's houses of worship are doing the work of "the One" this yuletide season, but it isn't G-d's work we are talking about.
This is more about a holiday cabal whose individual members and organizations are working feverishly to find out who's been naughty and nice, and will promise those who haven't enrolled all sorts of gifts from Uncle Santa Claus.
So when you feel that friendly hand land on your shoulder while working at the food bank or soup kitchen with your church or synagogue this holiday season, don't be deceived. It's really a snow boot on your neck.
And if you hear any ObamaCare talk in your church or synagogue, or become engaged in a conversation with one of Obama's navigator-elves by the water cooler or at the dinner table, forget the holiday cheer and kindly roast his or her chestnuts on an open fire.
And maybe when the enrollment dreidl stops spinning, it will land on "A Great Miracle Happened Here," and that miracle will be that ObamaCare vanishes like the Ghost of Christmas Past.
I apologize for all the silly Christmas and Chanukah comparisons...but really, there can be no helping it with this "Healthcare for the Holidays" campaign.