Obamacare.
The very sound of the word strikes at the nerve of millions of Americans, and yet it’s only a contrived nickname.
Republicans masterfully branded the Affordable Care Act as “Obamacare” during the height of the 2012 election, a deliberate attempt at affixing the President’s name to the controversial healthcare legislation and, in turn, torpedoing the entire program.
The plan didn’t play out as planned. The bill passed, the President was reelected and the Supreme Court upheld the legislation as constitutional.
But one thing did work out: the Obamacare moniker stuck, to the point where Democrats are using it right and left. So much so that the citizenry believes Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act are two entirely different things.
Say what you want about the policy and the politics behind it all, but the PR and branding strategy has worked like a charm.
Case in point:
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