With the end-of-month deadline to enroll in health insurance or face a fine rapidly approaching, President Obama has been on a pop culture PR blitz to sell the public on ObamaCare. The president appeared on Zach Galifianakis' absurdist Between Two Ferns; the White House released a March Madness-style health care bracket; and the administration joined BuzzFeed to post a fitting list of reasons, complete with Biden gifs, why everyone should sign up for insurance. Given that the effort has included no small amount of humor and whimsy, some on the right have complained that the president has tarnished the gravity of his office.
So how far is Obama willing to go to sell his eponymous health care law? According to Saturday Night Live, he'll do just about anything from posing with Kim Kardashian and Batkid, to dancing with the pope. He'll even, with a little urging, kiss Canadian menace Justin Bieber on the lips.
In its cold open Saturday, SNL had a social media maven convince a skeptical "Obama" to embrace each of those ideas to create viral promotional content.
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"Yeah, but isn't it a little silly?" the fictional Obama asks.
"Mr. President, I'll tell you what's silly," an aide, played by Taran Killam, responds. "Right now there's a pregnant woman in Denver who has no health insurance. That is silly." --Jon Terbush
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