Onesies are appropriate only for children under 2. This immutable fact was reaffirmed this past week when an effort to encourage young people to sign up for Obamacare went horribly, terribly, plaidly wrong.
It all started with a tweet. Organizing for Action, the grass-roots operation built to advocate for President Obama’s legislative agenda, tweeted a photo of a 20-something guy with hipster glasses, wearing a black-and-red-plaid onesie and cradling a mug. The text next to the image reads: “Wear pajamas. Drink hot chocolate. Talk about getting health insurance. #GetTalking.”
Thus, Pajama Boy was born. And mocking Pajama Boy entered the world immediately afterward. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie kicked things off, tweeting a picture of himself working at a soup kitchen accompanied by this caption: “Get out of your pajamas. Put on an apron. And Get Volunteering.” A flood of other conservatives jumped on board, offering thoughts that ranged from the funny (a picture of Pajama Boy with the words “I live with my parents” plastered over it) to the surprisingly serious (one commentator mourned the American male, or “insufferable man-child,” that Pajama Boy represents).
Pajama Boy was the latest swing and miss in efforts by Obama allies to persuade “young invincibles” who lack health insurance to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Who could forget the “brosurance” ads featuring a college guy doing a keg stand with a “got insurance?” headline? Or the one with a cardboard cutout of Ryan Gosling?
Pajama Boy, for getting people laughing at you rather than talking about health insurance, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.
Have a candidate for the Worst Week in Washington? E-mail Chris Cillizza at chris.cillizza@washpost.com.
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