It has been one week since the reelection of Barack Obama and the reality of Obamacare’s permanence in the American landscape is beginning to set in for many business owners.
Papa John’s founder and CEO, John Schnatter made headlines last week along with a slew of other companies when he announced some changes that would likely occur as Obamacare continues to be implemented. Schnatter commented that many of his company’s franchise owners will have to cut employees’ hours in order to avoid falling under Obamacare’s coverage requirements, and stay fiscally sound.
“That’s probably what’s going to happen,” he said according to NaplesNews.com. “It’s common sense. That’s what I call lose-lose.”
Schnatter’s comments have outraged many of Obama’s supporters on the left who are now calling for a boycott of the pizza giant, and attacks on Twitter and elsewhere:
This attempt at a boycott is is overwhelmingly ironic for two separate reasons.
First, recall back to the Rush Limbaugh-Sandra Fluke controversy when advertisers were pulling their money from the program in response to the left’s astroturfed secondary boycott that attempted, and failed, to get Limbaugh off the air.
Who was one of those heroes that stepped in, removed their advertising dollars, and added to the left’s effort to silence one of their greatest foes? You guessed it:
None other than Papa John’s.
It appears, however, that the left’s love fest with Papa John’s has since come to an abrupt end.
In an attempt to demonize Papa John’s, the familiar cries of racism and class warfare have ensued in the wake of Schnatter’s announcement. The overtones of class warfare are particularly evident in the Huffington Post’s take on the situation.
We’re guessing Obamacare won’t impact life at Schnatter’s lavish home, a 40,000 square-foot mansion in a tony suburb of Louisville, Kentucky, that features several swimming pools, a private golf course and a 22-car garage among other amenities, according to CelebrityNetworth.com.
“Who would’ve imagined pizza could build this,” said former presidential candidate Mitt Romney earlier this year. This is really something. Don’t you love this country? What a home this is, what grounds these are, the pool, the golf course…. This is a real tribute to America, to entrepreneurship.”
Now that the left has begun to paint Papa John’s executives and franchise owners as greedy racists, they feel justified in punishing the company by way of a boycott.
Yet, utilization of this tactic brings me to the second element of irony in this utterly bizarre situation.
The hallmark of any successful boycott is the limitation of revenue for the company you are targeting. So, if somehow this boycott were to be successful, the logical result would be that Papa John’s would lose money forcing them to cut more jobs, and more hours. Fewer people will be employed, and still fewer will have quality health benefits.
In achieving their goal, the boycotters will have achieved the exact opposite of their goal.
In the words of John Schatter, that’s what I call a lose-lose.
Similar to the situation that Chick-fil-a found itself in this past summer, as word of this boycott has spread, loyal patrons of the pizza company have organized a National Papa John’s Appreciation Day. It is currently scheduled for this Friday.
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