The Obama White House — the same White House that tried to make the 2010 election be about secretive outside money from industry groups — coordinated on a pro-Obamacare media campaign with deep-pocketed allies that stood to profit off Obamacare.
Memos released today by the House Energy & Commerce Committee paint a clear picture.
Remember how the media gushed over the Harry & Louise ads supporting Obamacare? Those ads were paid for by the drug lobby at the request of Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, emails reveal. “Rahm asked for Harry and Louise ads thru third party,” wrote Bryant Hall, the top Democratic lobbyist at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. “We’ve already contacted the agent.”
A week later, the ads appeared.
The White House also leaned on AARP to run ads targeting wobbly Democrats. “Can we get immediate robo calls into Nebraska urging nelson to vote for cloture?” wrote Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, now Obama’s campaign manager.
That sure sounds like coordination between the White House and the big lobbies benefitting from the bill.
There’s plenty more in these memos, and here at the Examiner over the next week, my colleague Phil Klein and I will be explaining what these emails mean.
