Over the holiday season, @BarackObama tweeted “How are you spending the cold days of December? An accompanying picture included a photo of a twenty-something man wearing a plaid pajama onesie holding a mug, and copy that read “Wear pajamas. Drink hot chocolate. Talk about getting health insurance.”
The tweet, created by liberal advocacy group Organizing for America, produced 983 retweets, 866 favorites, and a loud partisan response.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie responded with a mocking tweet the next day:
"In New Jersey, we are spending the cold days of December volunteering. #GetOutofYourPJs #SeasonofService," reads the tweet with an accompanying picture of him serving at a soup kitchen.
Though conservatives saw several liberal stereotypes embodied in one ad—youthful hipsters, still dependent on parents—some say the ad spread enough that it started a conversation in the right circles.
“The purpose of Pajama Boy is not to get people to buy health insurance, but to get a rise out of conservatives -- and thereby to engage the solidaristic, money-raising, meme-spreading power of OFA’s liberal base,” argues Bloomberg reporter Megan McArdle.
