President Obama Caught In a Lie
by James Glaser
August 13, 2009

President Barack Obama wants his legacy to include National Health Care. He wants it so badly he is willing to say anything to get the American people behind his plan. Actually, that would be his plan or any plan he can lay claim to. Presidents will always put their name to anything that is passed while they were in office, except things that might not put them in the best light.

Obama, like every president before him, is going to claim every bad plan implemented while he was in office was actually his predecessor, George Bush's fault. So, in a president's way of thinking, the more things they can pass, the better chance some of them will turn out to be good ideas, and thus, claimable.

Back to President Obama's lying. On Tuesday the President had a Town Hall meeting and packed the audience with people he liked and who liked him. Everyone could ask a question submitted on file cards, and then the President's handlers picked the softest of questions to be asked.

There was one pretty little eleven year old girl who got to ask one question. The media found that her mother was a huge Barack Obama supporter, the little girl went to the White House Easter Egg Hunt, and she was a soft ball pitcher. The "Soft Ball Pitcher" line is not true, I just threw that in. Hey, if presidents can do it.

But soft ball pitchers and easy questions were not enough for our new president. He had to lay it on even heavier, so that more people would start thinking his idea was a good one. Twice, on camera and with audio, the President told the audience, and thus the nightly news show crowds that AARP the Association for the Advancement of Retired People, many millions strong, had endorsed the House Health Care Plan that President Obama was touting.

That sounded good. After all, an association of retired people would never back a plan that would hurt the people they represent. The only trouble with the President's remarks is that they were not true.

AARP never endorsed the House Health Care Plan or any health care plan, and they stated that fact in a news release yesterday. The President made their endorsement up. In my book, that is lying.

Maybe at the next Town Hall Meeting, President Obama can let in some Americans who have actually read that House plan. Maybe by then the President could too. Also it would be good if President Obama got his facts right before he makes announcements about endorsements. Lying always tends to make people skeptical about your ideas.




Free JavaScripts provided
by The JavaScript Source


BACK to the 2009 Politics Columns.