It’s time once again for The Future American’s FAIL OF THE WEEK! Every Saturday, I name a person or group who has spent the past seven days behaving in a particularly idiotic way. Since it’s my belief that idiocy knows no politics, nobody is safe.
This week’s fail was brought to you by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The implementation of Obamacare is going poorly on several counts, but I can’t entirely blame her for that; virtually all of Congress, President Obama himself and whoever had been lobbying both are also responsible for Obamacare being a disjointed mess that would make the Swiss, the Germans, the Swedes and even the French shake their heads in dismay at America. Of course Obamacare needs further explanation. I mean, I covered that thing for months and I can’t tell you what’s in the final version. But would pro sports leagues do better? Sebelius says yes.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) are providing the equal and opposite reaction to Sebelius’s efforts to get the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and four other leagues to assist in the promotion of Obamacare. Here’s what McConnell and Cornyn put in their letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell:
It is difficult for us to remember another occasion when [a] major sports league took public sides in such a highly polarized public debate. Given the divisiveness and persistent unpopularity of this bill, it is difficult to understand why an organization like yours would risk damaging its inclusive and apolitical brand by lending its name to its promotion.
Now it’s one thing when pro leagues participate in certain public service campaigns that are, ostensibly, independent of the administration of the day. If, for example, the New Orleans Saints did ads for the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) after Hurricane Katrina, I would let that slide. Disaster relief is apolitical – until this guy starts complaining about the costs and that asshole talks about how that other asshole hates black people. And, you know, when it’s done right.
But Obamacare? Not only is that politically charged to the point that it could get Republicans boycotting football, of all things, we’re still not completely sure what it will look like. Just this week, the administration was still deciding how the birth control mandate would work. And as McConnell and Cornyn pointed out, when the Boston Red Sox helped promote Romneycare – was it even called Romneycare then? – it had the advantage of enough bipartisan support to keep the angry backlash to a pretty low volume. It just doesn’t work this time.
But if she’s that eager for publicity, I don’t think Sebelius would have to ask many Hollywood celebrities to help out with this one. It’s less expensive to boycott them.
