"Embrace 'Obamacare'"

[Clio the Leo]

Nailed it.

Embrace 'Obamacare'
Posted at 11:50 AM ET, 02/ 9/2011
Embrace 'Obamacare'
By Jonathan Capehart

Joe Scarborough asked us a very good question today on "Morning Joe" after Pat Buchanan uttered a term that is anathema to Democrats and progressives. Why do Democrats flip out when the health-care law is called "Obamacare"? Scarborough raised the issue because he said a woman approached him yesterday and said, "It's a terrible word."

"If you accused me of being a proponent of Reaganomics, I'd give you a hug, " Scarborough said to me. "I wonder, if this health-care plan is the greatest thing ever, why are Democrats so offended when you call it 'Obamacare'?"

"You've got 'Obama.' They like that word. And you got 'care.' Care is a good word. And you put them together and suddenly it's a vulgarity?"
As I explained, Democrats and progressives are a tad sensitive to the word's pejorative nature after watching President Obama get slammed in rather ugly terms for almost two years by Republicans for trying to insure as many Americans as possible. (Remember what happened during the vote on the bill?) As Norah O'Donnell explained, those on the left would say the term means "it's Obama shoving health care down people's throat or down business's throat."

But Buchanan got to the heart of the matter, which you might have missed because of all the crosstalk. "It's because Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan are saying it and not Jonathan Capehart." I certainly missed that, so I asked Buchanan during the commercial break. He explained that because he and Scarborough are Republicans, the term is taken as a dig when they say it. And surely more than a few believe there's a racial tinge to the term. As one person tweeted to me, "@CapehartJ It's a pajorative term because all the white guys you're sitting with hate #POTUS #AffordableCareAct would be too positive."

"If you're so proud of ," Scarborough asked, "then why are you ashamed to be attached to it?" You know, he's got a point. Affordable health care has been a priority for the Democratic Party since time began, it seems. So, Democrats embrace "Obamacare." @facieG gives two good reasons for doing so. First, "Dem's calling it Obamacare takes the power from GOP & gives the dem's the power. Take the power." And most importantly, "Someday repubs will regret terming it 'Obamacare'.It ensures they will Neva b able 2 take credit n future."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/02/embrace_obamacare.html

[pnwmom]

1. The name hearkens back to "Hillarycare" which was

especially disrespectful because of the use of her first name.

In both cases, the name implied that the insurance law wasn't supported by anyone except Clinton or Obama.

[GoCubsGo]

2. So, just fight fire with fire.

Say that "Obamacare" beats the hell out of "Republicare", which is what I have now, and also known as "Pray I don't get sick".

[Ozymanithrax]

3. Because it is coined as a slur and a lie, sort of like N____rcare would be.

I am quite proud of the Affordable Care Act. It is a great beginning. O_____care should not be uttered by anyone but a Conservative, Republican, or a racist (which amounts to almost the same thing), or a guy that murders his mistress.

[polmaven]

6. So we take control of it

and re"coin" it....We make it something to be proud of. We can't continue to allow them to turn the very name of our president into a racist slur.

[loudsue]

4. He's right! We need to say it loud & proud, and then, as suggested above, say it's better than

republicare, or republicans-don't-care.

[polmaven]

5. Good points...

Thank you Clio.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. It's pejorative

just like when Republicans and people whom hate Democrats use the word "Democrat" instead of Democrat(ic). "Obamacare" is IMHO a "dogwhistle" to the right and it pretty much tells me what I need to know about the person I'm talking to when I hear it.

[nxylas]

8. Because it's unfair to its creator

It used to be called Romneycare, and poor old Mitt Romney has had the credit stolen from him. :nopity:

Seriously, though, calling it Romneycare would hammer home the idea that it is a Republican plan, and that its most unpopular element, the universal mandate, is not what progressives were fighting for.

[Clio the Leo]

11. ha! good one. nt

[NorthCarolina]

9. Actually, I'm not sure why we don't call it "RomneyCare". nt

[madamesilverspurs]

10. Well, last month at a rally...

-

[Clio the Leo]

12. beautiful! Was looking for an image like that...

.... and of course all the images I could google on "Obamacare" were negative.

[tavalon]

13. No thanks

Even if I wasn't highly ashamed of that slightly better than a shit sandwich insurance mandating sausage ground fake health care reform, I would still know it was meant as a diss to Obama. They play the word games so much better than we do. Hell, we even let the teabaggers change their name to the tea party when they figured out what the original word meant (and when I say we, I mean Democrats, not me. They will always be called teabaggers by me).

Nope, not this time.