Once upon a time, the United States of America had a dignified President who successfully connected subjects to verbs multiple times a day. Tonight that former—I’m sorry, I need a moment after typing that word—president, Barack Obama, received the John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage” Award in Boston. And during his acceptance speech, he suggested that it would be pretty shitty if the new administration repealed the Affordable Care Act.
According to The Hill, the award ceremony was held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, where Obama spoke publicly for the first time since the House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. In doing so, he visited upon the theme of “political courage.”
Via The Hill:
“‘I’ve been thinking on this notion of political courage this weekend, in particular about some of the men and women who were elected to Congress the year I was elected to the White House,’ Obama said. ‘Many of them were new to Washington, had their entire careers ahead of them, and in that very first term they had to take tough vote after tough vote because we were in crisis.’”
Obama continued by saying that these individuals demonstrated courage by voting for the Affordable Care Act—a decision that cost many of them their seats in Congress.
“[Theirs] was a profile in courage,” he declared. “[Because] of that vote, 20 million people got health insurance who didn’t have it, and most of them did lose their seats.”
The members of Congress who supported the ACA, Obama explained, illustrated what President Kennedy referred to as a “congressional profile in courage,” that is to say, “the desire to maintain a reputation for integrity that is stronger than a desire to maintain office.”
Well-played #subtweet, Mr. Obama, and a hearty congratulations on your award. Here’s hoping Congress and Orange Potato 45 don’t condemn millions of people to early deaths by torching the legislation that defines your presidential legacy.
Pardon me while I now listen to Everything But the Girl’s “Missing” for the remainder of the night.