The Exceptional Mendacity of Barack Obama
From John Ellis, "The Lies of Obama," in FrontPage Magazine (http://frontpagemag.com/2010/01/21/lies-of-obama/):
When politicians are caught out in lies, their supporters often resort to the old cliché: all politicians lie. But that is itself a lie: most don’t. Even among those who do, there are enormous differences in the importance and frequency of the lies. And it is surely now clear that this nation has a far from routine problem in the scale and regularity of President Obama’s lying.
This is an important point. It is true that many politicians lie, but not only don't all politicians choose to lie by commission (I think that all do lie by omission from time to time, it's an occupational necessity), not all lie to the same extent and the same frequency.
Does this make a difference? As I pointed out in an earlier post (http://jordan179.livejournal.com/157461.html) in the context of comparing Guantanamo Bay to Auschwitz, a morality which ignores the relative magnitude of immoral acts is inapplicable to reality: stealing from the cookie jar is not the equivalent of mass murder, and pretending that it is may make it tougher on cookie thieves, but it will certainly make it a heck of a lot easier on mass murderers.
So what lies has Obama told?
Ellis gives a long and detailed list, which I will here summarize. The original list gives more information about when Obama made a promise and when he broke it.
(1) Obama promised to spare Medicare from cuts, but now urges extreme cuts in that program,
(2) Obama promised that his stimulus bill would create mostly private-sector jobs, but it creates mostly public-sector jobs,
(3) Obama claimed that he did not favor a single-payer health-care system, after being on record as saying that he did,
(4) Obama promised that if he was nominated he would abide by the campaign finance limits of public funding, but did not,
(5) Obama promised to bar lobbyists from appointments in his Administration, but in fact appointed more than his predecessors,
(6) Obama promised to stop deficit spending and ... well, do I really even need to tell you what he did instead?
(7) Obama promised to stop the Congressional tendency toward long unreadable bills, but has been backing bills over 2000 pages in length,
(8) Obama promised to stop pork spending, but has elevated it to new heights (exempting specific states from specific taxes).
(9) Obama promised not to prosecute CIA interrogators of terrorists, but his administration has opened such prosecutions,
(10) Obama promised that his health care bill would not include abortion funding, but it does.
(11) Obama promised to give time for the public to read his bills before passage, but has instead rushed long bills through Congress,
(12) Obama promised not to increase taxes for those under $200 thousand in income, but his healthcare bill would do just that.
(13) Obama promised to be bipartisan, but instead has shut the Republicans out of all decisionmaking.
(14) Obama promised not to tax employer-paid healthcare benefits, but now wants to do just that,
(15) Obama promised "not to add one dime" to the deficit through healthcare, but now backs a bill which adds trillions to the deficit.
(16) Obama promised that if his stimulus bill was passed, unemployment would not go above 8%; it is now above 10%.
(17) Obama promised that cap-and-trade would create jobs, but it involves massive tax increases, which will certainly destroy jobs.
(18) Obama promised to let those who wished keep their health care plans, but the bill he backs creates huge incentives for employers to drop coverage and put employees on the public option.
(19) Obama promised to let everyone keep their doctors, but wants to cut MediCare to the point where many would be certain to lose their doctors.
(20) Obama promised that his health care bill would not pay for care for illegal aliens, but it in fact makes no such distinction.
(21) Obama said that the head of Caterpillar Corporation had told him he would hire again as the result of the stimulus bill: the CEO promptly denied making such a statement and said Caterpillar would be laying off workers.
(22) Obama promised that the Guantanamo Bay prison would be closed by January 1st, 2010. It is now the 23rd, and it is still open.
(23) Obama claimed that he would open his key political negotiations to C-Span, but has instead conducted them behind closed doors, keeping even those Congressmen not in the committees from finding out what was going on.
(24) Obama claimed that Zelaya had been overthrown in an illegal coup, but Zelaya was actually overthrown by the order of the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress, acting in unison to protect the Honduran Constitution.
(25) Obama claimed that the health care public option was only there to increase choice and coverage, but it in fact disfavors private plans and subjects them to rigid and obstructive regulation.
(26) Obama claimed that terrorist radical Bill Ayers was "just another guy in his neighborhood," but the record shows that they were in fact close political allies and even personal friends.
(27) Obama promised that his health care plan would never ration care or refuse life-sustaining care to the elderly: the plan he backs actually sets up panels to decide when to withhold such care, and makes deep cuts in Medicare, so that rationing is unavoidable.
(28) Obama claims that his health care plan will not increase insurance premiums, but in forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, it is difficult to see how such increases could be avoided.
As Ellis points out:
This is an extraordinary record of serial mendacity. One or two instances might charitably be regarded as rash promises later regretted, or as the wishful thinking of someone who had not thought through the implications of what he was saying. But when it happens again and again ... only one judgment seems possible: this is the record of a habitual, shameless liar, a man who will say anything to get what he wants.
Exactly. The logical conclusion is that he is utterly untrustworthy. This has serious implications for his Administration: there is thus no reason why anyone should take anything he says seriously, whether it is a threat or a promise. He has demonstrated by his actions that there is no correlation between his words and his actions, and thus must be viewed as an essentially random political factor.
In other words: we have no real President right now, only a loud empty suit which chaotically utters speeches. And unfortunately, America's enemies also know it.
When politicians are caught out in lies, their supporters often resort to the old cliché: all politicians lie. But that is itself a lie: most don’t. Even among those who do, there are enormous differences in the importance and frequency of the lies. And it is surely now clear that this nation has a far from routine problem in the scale and regularity of President Obama’s lying.
This is an important point. It is true that many politicians lie, but not only don't all politicians choose to lie by commission (I think that all do lie by omission from time to time, it's an occupational necessity), not all lie to the same extent and the same frequency.
Does this make a difference? As I pointed out in an earlier post (http://jordan179.livejournal.com/157461.html) in the context of comparing Guantanamo Bay to Auschwitz, a morality which ignores the relative magnitude of immoral acts is inapplicable to reality: stealing from the cookie jar is not the equivalent of mass murder, and pretending that it is may make it tougher on cookie thieves, but it will certainly make it a heck of a lot easier on mass murderers.
So what lies has Obama told?
Ellis gives a long and detailed list, which I will here summarize. The original list gives more information about when Obama made a promise and when he broke it.
(1) Obama promised to spare Medicare from cuts, but now urges extreme cuts in that program,
(2) Obama promised that his stimulus bill would create mostly private-sector jobs, but it creates mostly public-sector jobs,
(3) Obama claimed that he did not favor a single-payer health-care system, after being on record as saying that he did,
(4) Obama promised that if he was nominated he would abide by the campaign finance limits of public funding, but did not,
(5) Obama promised to bar lobbyists from appointments in his Administration, but in fact appointed more than his predecessors,
(6) Obama promised to stop deficit spending and ... well, do I really even need to tell you what he did instead?
(7) Obama promised to stop the Congressional tendency toward long unreadable bills, but has been backing bills over 2000 pages in length,
(8) Obama promised to stop pork spending, but has elevated it to new heights (exempting specific states from specific taxes).
(9) Obama promised not to prosecute CIA interrogators of terrorists, but his administration has opened such prosecutions,
(10) Obama promised that his health care bill would not include abortion funding, but it does.
(11) Obama promised to give time for the public to read his bills before passage, but has instead rushed long bills through Congress,
(12) Obama promised not to increase taxes for those under $200 thousand in income, but his healthcare bill would do just that.
(13) Obama promised to be bipartisan, but instead has shut the Republicans out of all decisionmaking.
(14) Obama promised not to tax employer-paid healthcare benefits, but now wants to do just that,
(15) Obama promised "not to add one dime" to the deficit through healthcare, but now backs a bill which adds trillions to the deficit.
(16) Obama promised that if his stimulus bill was passed, unemployment would not go above 8%; it is now above 10%.
(17) Obama promised that cap-and-trade would create jobs, but it involves massive tax increases, which will certainly destroy jobs.
(18) Obama promised to let those who wished keep their health care plans, but the bill he backs creates huge incentives for employers to drop coverage and put employees on the public option.
(19) Obama promised to let everyone keep their doctors, but wants to cut MediCare to the point where many would be certain to lose their doctors.
(20) Obama promised that his health care bill would not pay for care for illegal aliens, but it in fact makes no such distinction.
(21) Obama said that the head of Caterpillar Corporation had told him he would hire again as the result of the stimulus bill: the CEO promptly denied making such a statement and said Caterpillar would be laying off workers.
(22) Obama promised that the Guantanamo Bay prison would be closed by January 1st, 2010. It is now the 23rd, and it is still open.
(23) Obama claimed that he would open his key political negotiations to C-Span, but has instead conducted them behind closed doors, keeping even those Congressmen not in the committees from finding out what was going on.
(24) Obama claimed that Zelaya had been overthrown in an illegal coup, but Zelaya was actually overthrown by the order of the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress, acting in unison to protect the Honduran Constitution.
(25) Obama claimed that the health care public option was only there to increase choice and coverage, but it in fact disfavors private plans and subjects them to rigid and obstructive regulation.
(26) Obama claimed that terrorist radical Bill Ayers was "just another guy in his neighborhood," but the record shows that they were in fact close political allies and even personal friends.
(27) Obama promised that his health care plan would never ration care or refuse life-sustaining care to the elderly: the plan he backs actually sets up panels to decide when to withhold such care, and makes deep cuts in Medicare, so that rationing is unavoidable.
(28) Obama claims that his health care plan will not increase insurance premiums, but in forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, it is difficult to see how such increases could be avoided.
As Ellis points out:
This is an extraordinary record of serial mendacity. One or two instances might charitably be regarded as rash promises later regretted, or as the wishful thinking of someone who had not thought through the implications of what he was saying. But when it happens again and again ... only one judgment seems possible: this is the record of a habitual, shameless liar, a man who will say anything to get what he wants.
Exactly. The logical conclusion is that he is utterly untrustworthy. This has serious implications for his Administration: there is thus no reason why anyone should take anything he says seriously, whether it is a threat or a promise. He has demonstrated by his actions that there is no correlation between his words and his actions, and thus must be viewed as an essentially random political factor.
In other words: we have no real President right now, only a loud empty suit which chaotically utters speeches. And unfortunately, America's enemies also know it.