It goes without saying that President Obama has pulled out all the stops this past month to get as many applicants to the Health Insurance Marketplace as possible. To accomplish this, he used some of the most blatant and unabashed PR tactics to try and impress the younger demographics.
These included his heavily discussed appearance on Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifinakis, as well as commercials featuring some of his athletic supporters. Throughout this month’s NCAA tournament, Healthcare.gov ads featuring basketball superstars LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Alonzo Mourning flooded the frequent commercial breaks.
Despite this bombardment of endorsement, Obama’s efforts were evidently less successful than he had hoped, as the deadline to enroll has been extended once again to April 15. Nonetheless, the president’s strategy begs the inevitable question: What if Obama tried to gain mainstream support for other policy issues in the same way? Here are a few ways in which this could take shape.
War on Terror
One of President Obama’s most difficult dilemmas that has been plaguing him since his inauguration is the handling of troops in the Middle East. We’re finally out of Iraq, but there are still quite a few US soldiers in Afghanistan. To keep public outcry about this down to a minimum, President Obama consults one of the most recognizable names in the country:
“Hi America, I’m professional boxer Mike Tyson. I love to fight, and I know that you all love to watch me and my fellow boxers fight as well. That’s why I know that we need to keep the troops in Afghanistan for just a little while longer. They love to fight too, so what’s not to love? Why settle for pay-per-view when we can get the real thing?”
NSA
Following the Edward Snowden affair, Obama and the role of the NSA have come under serious fire. To help ease the general populace’s paranoia over their phone calls and emails potentially being watched, the government runs this commercial during episodes of Person Of Interest:
“What’s happening, America? It’s Antoine Dodson, and I don’t konw about you, but I feel so much safer now that the NSA’s got my back! No more worrying about hiding my kids or my wife, Lincoln Park has never been safer! If you’re trying to creep and don’t think that the NSA will catch you, then you are dumb. You are really dumb.”
The deficit
The national debt hasn't made much (if any) progress since President Obama was elected. In fact, according to the Department of the Treasury, we're sitting at approximately $17.5 trillion of debt at this time. It's impossible to get Congress to agree on what to cut from the federal budget, so instead of settling on yet another continuing resolution, Obama takes matters into his own hands.
"This spring, History Channel brings you a new reality series: Pawn Stars & Stripes! Every week, our beloved Commander in Chief will bring in treasured White House artifacts which he will attempt to pawn (or even sell!) to Rick and the Old Man. On Thursday night's premiere, see Obama drop by the shop with Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington. Not one to mince words, he's asking a healthy $25 billion. Dolley Madison saved the painting from a fire, but can the guys turn a profit on it AND save the national economy? That's Thursday night at 10:00, right after Cajun Pawn Stars and Axe Men."
Benghazi
It’s been almost two years since the attack on the embassy in Benghazi, and those pesky Republicans won’t seem to stop asking questions about it. I mean, Obama got re-elected, so they should just drop it, right? Well, events like this can give the president a bad rap, so in order to help the younger folks forget about incidents of this nature, I could imagine Obama doing something like going on late night talk shows all the time or filling out a bracket every year on ESPN and picking schools in swing states to win.
Oh wait, he already does those things?