“I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me,” President Barack Obama said yesterday. The media called it an apology. But he apologized that Americans “are finding themselves in this situation.” That passive construction is meant to exculpate himself from responsibility. It was like he was telling us he was sorry that a terrible fire damaged our home or that our dog died. But he didn’t say he was sorry he set fire to our house or that he killed the dog. And make no mistake, he did this. We didn’t find ourselves in this situation. He pushed us into this situation.
Notably Obama did not say, “Im sorry that I misrepresented the facts about whether you could keep your coverage if you liked it. The truth is you can’t and you never could. I knew that. I shouldn’t have hid that fact from you.” His passive apology — “I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation” — is simply an attempt to appear to apologize without actually doing so. Simply stated, he was not remotely clear about what he did that warrants an apology and the entire statement was intended to hide what he did. And what he did was lie, over and over again about the law. He did it because he had to lie about the law so that it would pass. He didn’t have a single vote to spare so the lies were a necessity if he wanted to win passage of the bill.He needed everyone who was happy with their coverage and their doctor to sit this fight out. He didn’t need them opposing him or his bill once they knew it was going to kill off the coverage they liked. That is why he knowingly lied to us over and over again — even just five days before the launch of ObamaCare. And we now know that the White House knew this was all a big lie for the past three years. So if he wants to sincerely apologize, he has to apologize for what he did. In other words, he has to specifically apologize for repeatedly lying to us. Telling us that he is sorry we find ourselves in an unpleasant situation simply will not do.
His first attempt to dodge accountability for his lies came earlier this week, when we had the mendacity to claim that what he had actually said was that we could keep our insurance if it hadn’t changed after the passage of the law. Actually, Mr. President, that is not what you said. Now, you’re lying about what you originally lied about. This is getting ridiculous!
“Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job in terms of how we crafted the law,” Obama said. “And, you know, that’s something I regret. That’s something we’re gonna do everything we can to get fixed….” No! That is not the problem. That is yet another lie. The problem isn’t merely that they didn’t do a good enough job crafting the law. They repeated lied about the law they crafted and they chided and questioned anyone who said they were wrong.
The facts are clear. The law was going to force millions to lose their coverage and yet Obama denied it and questioned the motives of those who pointed out that people would lose their coverage. Even charges of racism were leveled to shut down those who pointed out what the law would do. Obama and his administration knew the law would do this. Memos prove they knew. Yet the president and his surrogates repeatedly said that if we liked our coverage we could “keep it. Period.” That was a barefaced lie.
I don’t normally throw the “lie” word around because someone can say something that is completely false, without actually lying. They could be mistaken or wrong without the actual intent to deceive. That happens all the time. For example, the entire world said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Yet, none were ever found. So while the statement may have been false, it seems clearly to lack the intent to deceive as everyone believed it was true — the Russians, the Israelis, the Brits, the French, etc. But in this case, it could not be clearer that Obama was both saying things that were false, and also that he knew they were false and that he said them with the intent to deceive the public so that he could pass his signature piece of legislation. The record is clear — Obama was not merely mistaken, he was lying. Period.
His so-called apology is yet another attempt to deceive and mislead. He wants the press to report that he “apologized.” But he didn’t apologize. He merely expressed regret that people are having bad things happen to them without admitting he is the reason for their misfortune. But that is not the same thing as saying “I’m sorry that I misrepresented the impact of the law in my zeal to win its passage. I’m sorry.” That would be an apology. But saying “I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation,” isn’t an apology. It is merely more fraud, added upon the already monstrous fraud that he has perpetrated.
If Obama wanted to prove that he was truly sorry for securing the passage of ObamaCare based on lies and fraud, he would ask Congress to pass a bill repealing ObamaCare which he would promise to sign and he would ask Congress to begin anew on a bipartisan healthcare reform bill that is honestly discussed and debated. Short of that, Obama is cynically hoping to keep the gains he achieved by flat-out lying to Americans. He won’t give back what he won through fraud and dishonesty. That is how you know that his apology is entirely phony. If a neighbor stole your car and later apologized for his dishonesty, you would know his apology was insincere if he kept your car. And so it is with Obama. He will keep the gains he won by lying and he will give us phony apologies. But in the end, he will keep what he stole. He will not return to the American people what he stole or used fraud to obtain.
Obama’s favorability rating will continue to drop to new historic lows if he continues to believe that he can lie to Americans without paying a price.