On Wednesday at a House hearing on the malfunctioning Healthcare.gov website, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) invoked The Wizard of Oz when he told Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that she was not in Kansas anymore.
“There is a famous movie called The Wizard of Oz. There is a great line. Dorothy, at some point in the movie, turns to her little dog Toto and says, ‘Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore,'” Barton told Sebelius, the former Kansas governor. “Well Madam Secretary, while you’re from Kansas, you’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Barton then said that “some might actually say we’re in Wizard of Oz land” given the “parallel universes we seem to be habitating.”
Barton said that that those like Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and most Democrats think things are going “great” with Obamacare and Healthcare.gov. He said though Sebelius did mention the Obamacare rollout was a “debacle,” she also seems to think it is “great.”
“Ultimately, the American people will decide,” Barton said.
Later in the hearing, Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Iowa, also invoked The Wizard of Oz.
“One of the things that keeps coming up in this hearing because you are from Kansas is references to The Wizard of Oz. And people want to see the wizard because of the wonderful things that he did,” Braley said.