Do President Obamas adamant denials that he misled the American public on various important aspects of Obamacare stand up to scrutiny? No, and its not even a close call. In the past several weeks, theres been a major uproar in the alternative media -- the liberal media doing their usual best to cover up stories damaging to this administration and the cause of progressivism -- over recordings that have surfaced of MIT economist Jonathan Gruber. Gruber essentially admitted that the administration duped the American people, whom he called stupid, on certain issues and the Congressional Budget Office as to the cost of the legislation. For a while, the administration and its media lapdogs just ignored the recordings and their damning implications, but that changed Sunday, when Meet the Press host Chuck Todd challenged Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell on the matter and Obama broke his silence to issue an insulting denial of Grubers claims. Todd told Burwell: Hes playing into every fear that many conservatives had about this bill -- that its not transparent, that there are things in it that people dont know. This certainly cant help a credibility gap. Burwell adamantly insisted that she fundamentally disagrees with Grubers comments about the bill and about the American people. She couldnt deny that Gruber made his comments, of course, because they were recorded for all to see. But Obama, during a news conference at the G-20 summit in Australia, did the next best thing, from the administrations standpoint. He told Fox News Ed Henry, I just heard about this. Apparently, Obama doesnt even keep up with the news well enough to realize that his similar past statements that he just learned of this or that important news item when he read it in the paper that morning have been ruthlessly parodied. No one believes he is that ignorant on matters on which he would have firsthand knowledge well before any news outlet. The only plausible alternative scenario is that he is so disengaged that he doesnt keep up with critical information on vital issues -- and thats even worse. As usual, Obama exhibited no contrition and copped his signature attitude of indignation at the suggestion that the administration has anything to apologize over concerning Grubers revelations. Obama said, The fact that some adviser who never worked on our staff expressed an opinion that I completely disagree with in terms of the voters is no reflection on the actual process that was run. Some adviser? Thats reminiscent of Obamas flippant description of his friend William Ayers, a domestic terrorist, as just some guy in the neighborhood. But what do the facts show? Well, Gruber didnt just boast that this bill was written in a tortured way to make sure (the Congressional Budget Office) did not score the mandate as taxes. In a separate video, he admitted that the Cadillac tax -- a tax that applies to expensive health care plans, is a very clever, you know, basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter. There is also a third video in which Gruber denigrates the American voter. Though he wasnt technically on Obamas staff, did his statements nevertheless represent the administrations attitude and approach? This, too, cannot be in serious question. In my books and columns, Ive detailed the double counting and other gimmicks -- from the doc fix to the Cadillac tax to tricks with Medicare -- that Obama employed to get the bill passed. But Obamas casual dismissal of Gruber and his effort to dissociate his administration from Grubers admissions dont wash. The Daily Caller reports that in an interview with PBS in 2012, Gruber said he had discussed the Cadillac tax with Obama at the White House. In that interview, Gruber said: (Obama is) really a realistic guy. Hes like, Look, I cant just do this. He said, Its just not going to happen politically. The bill will not pass. How do we manage to get there through phases and other things? And we talked about it. And he was just very interested in that topic. Grubers characterization of Obama is entirely believable, considering not only Obamas deceptive schemes to get the bill passed but his own remarks on a 2007 video. On that recording, he admitted that he favored a single-payer system but acknowledged that patience would be required because it could take as long as 15 years. There are also the minor inconvenient facts that Gruber was paid $392,600 to consult on Obamacare and that, as Slates John Dickerson has reported, Obama prominently acknowledged Grubers role in helping craft the law. Further evidence includes this statement by Neera Tanden, who is now the president of the Center for American Progress: I remember many a call to Jonathan Gruber concerning the formulation of Obamacare. The bottom line is that Gruber was a trusted adviser who shared and served the administrations goal of passing Obamacare at any cost, including with smoke and mirrors and outright lies to the American people. President Obamas denials are not only contrary to the undisputed facts but also part of an undeniable pattern he has established of deceiving the people to serve his policy ends. As I believe the midterm elections showed, the majority of Americans no longer trust this man. Finally.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 16:35:34 +0000
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