This is a brilliant and painful analogy by Charles Hurt in the Washington Times.
That was America standing behind President Obama in the Rose Garden this week as he stammered, and droned on and on, trying to explain away the epic disaster that Obamacare has become even before it has begun.
“About three weeks ago, as the federal government shut down,” he began.
Expectant and hopeful, America stood tall on the steps behind him for as long as she could. She was proud and gazed at the nation’s new top health care provider proudly. But as the excuses and mistruths mounted and the barrage of words rolled on and on and on, she could not help but to begin to waver.
“… hasn’t worked as smoothly as it was supposed to,” the president said.
She began to sway slightly.
“Health insurance for what may be the equivalent of your cellphone bill or your cable bill — and that’s a good deal!”
She tried valiantly to keep her footing.
“This product is good.”
She blinked and breathed deeply. Looked around.
“Exceeding expectations!”
She was so proud of him that she wanted to stand tall and not flag.
“… to lift from the American people the crushing burden of unaffordable health care,” he said.
Her eyes widened. She looked to her side. There was the light.
“… to free families from the pervasive fear that one illness “
She staggered. Her knees weakened and her mind closed. She started to fall back.
The sad truth is that the embarrassing and calamitous scene we saw unfold in the Rose Garden was a perfect representation of what has become of not only Obamacare but of the entire Obama presidency.
The ineptitude is painful to watch. The arrogance is truly suffocating. And the coolness that was once Mr. Obama’s hallmark has turned into brittle anger that he barely conceals.
He began his oily salesman’s pitch by invoking the government shutdown, as if that had the slightest thing in the world to do with the implosion of Obamacare. It is hard to know, at this point, if he is intentionally being dishonest or if he has simply become delusional. Later, he inexplicably blamed Republican opponents in Congress.
In truth, all the blame rests with Mr. Obama, standing there in the Rose Garden, trying to explain it all away. And behind him was America, wishing so desperately for him to succeed. But reality overtook her and she crumpled.
Mr. Obama stopped his speech and turned around. The daylight had left her eyes as she had gone limp.
He put out his hand.
“I gotcha,” he said. But it was the people around her holding her up.
“You’re OK,” he said, though it was abundantly clear that the woman could no longer stand.
Welcome, America, to Obamacare.• Charles Hurt can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @charleshurt.