Jimmy Kimmel is as guilty as most late night comics when it comes to giving President Barack Obama a free pass for five-plus years.
Not any more.
Kimmel crushed the disastrous ObamaCare rollout, the logic behind its funding and 20-somethings who didn’t study how it would impact them during Tuesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The Tonight Show’s Jay Leno has been the sole late night host to treat Obama with the same truth to power tactics applied to past presidents. Yet Kimmel’s monologue blistered ObamaCare in a way that even Leno might have avoided.
Kimmel began by explaining why ObamaCare needs plenty of young, healthy enrollees to make the math work, noting that so far youthful Americans aren’t flocking to sign up. Next, he trotted out a mock Obama PSA featuring an older couple thanking ignorant youngsters for footing their medical bills.
ALEX: I take blood pressure medication.
MARTHA: And Levitra.
ALEX: Yes. And Martha’s got beta blockers and something for her osteoporosis. And it’s not cheap.
MARTHA: But fortunately we don’t have to pay for it.
ALEX: No, you do.
MARTHA: That’s right. You young people are paying for our drugs and our doctors.
ALEX: Not to mention our Social Security and our Medicare when we retire to Boca. And you know why?
MARTHA: Because you don’t vote.
ALEX: And we do.
MARTHA: That’s right. Hope you enjoy that Burning Guy festival.
ALEX: Come on, Martha, let’s go find that Levitra.
MARTHA: Oh, Alex!
ANNOUNCER: The Affordable Care Act. Next time, maybe pick up a newspaper.
To be fair, it’s not entirely the fault of young Americans that they didn’t realize what ObamaCare had in store for them. The media did all it could to downplay bad news about the reform while failing to investigate its claims before the critical 2012 presidential elections.
Now, comedians like Kimmel are picking up the slack at long last.