Unlike Congressional Democrats, Andy Griffith was There When Obama Needed Him

Last updated on February 9th, 2013 at 03:02 am

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Andy Griffith was a beloved television presence and a gifted actor who remained loyal and stood by President Obama.

In 2008, Andy Griffith first earned the wrath of the right when he and Henry Winkler teamed up with Ron Howard to endorse Barack Obama.

Griffith’s part of the script contained this bit a of wisdom about fearing change, “People are funny. Sometimes change scares them. They’d rather keep doing the same old things that keep messing them up than change to the thing that can help them.”

However, Andy really earned the right’s wrath when he filmed a commercial supporting ObamaCare.

Here is Griffith’s 2010 commercial which was trying to convince seniors that Barack Obama was not going to kill them with healthcare reform:

Griffith was attacked by Rush Limbaugh after the ad aired,

RUSH: I don’t think it’s well known, but Andy Griffith is a well-known leftist. Oh, yeah. Andy Griffith is a well known leftist and he’s got a reputation for being nasty.

CALLER: Well —

RUSH: What you experienced is not uncommon. I guess it’s not well known because of the characters that he’s played on TV. No, he let Otis out of jail all the time. It’s a perfect example of a leftist, Otis constantly drunk. Griffith campaigned for Obama. Do you people not remember this? Oh, yeah. Andy Griffith campaigned for Obama. In fact, here is Andy Griffith for Obamacare.

Griffith paid a heavy price for making the ad. A September 2010 PPP poll of North Carolina found that his support for healthcare reform cost him 25 points of favorability in his home state. His favorable rating dropped twenty two points with Republicans thanks to attacks on his character by people like Rush Limbaugh and others on the right.

Unlike Congressional Democrats who cut and run from the president when things get tough, Andy Griffith was there for the president. The one thing that many congressional Democrats have proven is that when things get tough, they sell out the White House. One has to look no further than the shameless display put on by 17 House Democrats who voted for contempt charges against Eric Holder.

Democrats sold out Obama on the public option. They sold him out on closing GITMO. They even tried to sell him out on SOPA/PIPA. Sometimes Obama’s big problem isn’t the GOP. It is the self-interested members of his own party’s congressional delegation who work against him.

It is somehow fitting that Griffith got to enjoy one final Obama victory on healthcare before he passed away.

Andy Griffith was part of an era when Democrats actually supported their president. Times change, but of all the values that he tried to emphasize in his television shows, loyalty is the one that some Democrats could really use a refresher on.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association