Is the President a Liar?

That is a harsh label to apply to anyone. 

Often it is used to describe a person who simply makes a statement that is not true.  But that is incorrect usage unless the person making the statement knew it was false when uttered or written.

Undeniably Barack Obama spoke falsely in June of 2009 when he said that under his proposed health care law:  “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period.”

He said much the same thing many times thereafter including during the 2002 presidential campaign.  And it was untrue every time.

In the summer of 2010, in fact, federal regulations were written that made clear that Obamacare mandated a minimum level of coverage.  Insurance policies that did not meet that standard would have to be canceled.  Did the President not know that?

Sure, it’s possible, but unlikely.  It seems incredible that someone, somewhere in the Administration didn’t alert the President to the inaccuracy of what he was repeatedly saying.
 

So let’s assume he did know.  That doesn’t mean that he believed it.  Certainly he wouldn’t want to.  After all, Obamacare was highly controversial from the very beginning.  He knew he’d have to work hard to sell it to the American people.  Having to say that millions of people would lose health insurance policies that they wanted to keep would not be helpful politically. 

Particularly arrogant people – and President Obama is certainly one of those – can convince themselves of all sorts of things… including that they can do no wrong, and lying would be wrong, wouldn’t it?

Old political hands will remember the case of Senator Gary Hart, a prominent Democrat with his eye on the presidency.  In 1987, on the eve of his announcement of candidacy, he was accused of being involved in an extra-marital affair.  He responded by telling the New York Times that the allegations were untrue.  “Follow me around.  I don’t care.  I’m serious.”

But involved he was.  Witnesses and photographs soon surfaced supporting the rumors.  He soon withdrew his candidacy and faded from the national political scene.
 

Had Gary Hart been crazy to taunt his accusers in light of the facts he knew?  People not sharing Hart’s arrogance (most of us) would say “of course”.  But Hart wasn’t crazy.  He simply occupied an insular world of his own making in which he could do no wrong.

Such people are not confined to the political realm.  Hollywood and Wall Street come readily to mind.

So maybe Barack is not lying in the conventional sense.  Perhaps, as noted conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer put it, “the President is lying to himself”.

A cynical, more accurate view may be that the statements were intentional from the beginning.  Given the press’s adulation, Obama may have figured that the damaging news – the truth – wouldn’t come out until too late to do him, or the so-called Affordable Care Act, any harm.

Whichever the case, it is clear that the President’s word is untrustworthy if his political standing or policy is involved.  Truth will give way to his interests.  Obamacare, cutting spending, Syria, Benghazi… are prior examples.  The next three years should be no different.