Columnist Charles Krauthammer Says President Obama's "Persona is More Cool, Distant, Imperial & Charming Scoundrel Can Get Away With Deception"

Well, conservative syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer has written a scathing article questioning the truthfulness of statements made by President Barack Obama. I really expected no less from Krauthammer because of his political persuasion. This is music to the ears of President Obama's critics. He is implying that Obama isn't a man of his words and that he slithers like a snake in and out of his positions. I guess that speaks to some of the same traits as President Bill "Slick Willie" Clinton, but in Krauthammer's eyes, there is a twist -- Clinton possessed an irresistible charm. He states that Obama's persona is more cool, distant, imperial. Wow, I wonder what he thought of President George W. Bush? Don't get me wrong, Mr. Krauthammer is a brilliant man and he has made a valuable contribution to the world of political analysis, but I have to wonder why we are still talking about "you lie."

Does He Lie?
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, September 18, 2009

You lie? No. Barack Obama doesn't lie. He's too subtle for that. He . . . well, you judge. Herewith three examples within a single speech -- the now-famous Obama-Wilson "you lie" address to Congress on health care -- of Obama's relationship with truth.

(1) "I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits -- either now or in the future," he solemnly pledged. "I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future. Period."

Wonderful. The president seems serious, veto-ready, determined to hold the line. Until, notes Harvard economist Greg Mankiw, you get to Obama's very next sentence: "And to prove that I'm serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don't materialize."

This apparent strengthening of the pledge brilliantly and deceptively undermines it. What Obama suggests is that his plan will require mandatory spending cuts if the current rosy projections prove false. But there's absolutely nothing automatic about such cuts. Every Congress is sovereign. Nothing enacted today will force a future Congress or a future president to make any cuts in any spending, mandatory or not.

Just look at the supposedly automatic Medicare cuts contained in the Sustainable Growth Rate formula enacted to constrain out-of-control Medicare spending. Every year since 2003, Congress has waived the cuts.

Mankiw puts the Obama bait-and-switch in plain language. "Translation: I promise to fix the problem. And if I do not fix the problem now, I will fix it later, or some future president will, after I am long gone. I promise he will. Absolutely, positively, I am committed to that future president fixing the problem. You can count on it. Would I lie to you?"

(2) And then there's the famous contretemps about health insurance for illegal immigrants. Obama said they would not be insured. Well, all four committee-passed bills in Congress allow illegal immigrants to take part in the proposed Health Insurance Exchange. But more important, the problem is that laws are not self-enforcing. If they were, we'd have no illegal immigrants because, as I understand it, it's illegal to enter the United States illegally. We have laws against burglary, too. But we also provide for cops and jails on the assumption that most burglars don't voluntarily turn themselves in.

When Republicans proposed requiring proof of citizenship, the Democrats twice voted that down in committee. Indeed, after Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" shout-out, the Senate Finance Committee revisited the language of its bill to prevent illegal immigrants from getting any federal benefits. Why would the Finance Committee fix a nonexistent problem?

(3) Obama said he would largely solve the insoluble cost problem of Obamacare by eliminating "hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud" from Medicare. That's not a lie. That's not even deception. That's just an insult to our intelligence. Waste, fraud and abuse -- Meg Greenfield once called this phrase "the dread big three" -- as the all-purpose piggy bank for budget savings has been a joke since Jimmy Carter first used it in 1977.

Moreover, if half a trillion is waiting to be squeezed painlessly out of Medicare, why wait for health-care reform? If, as Obama repeatedly insists, Medicare overspending is breaking the budget, why hasn't he gotten started on the painless billions in "waste and fraud" savings?

Obama doesn't lie. He merely elides, gliding from one dubious assertion to another. This has been the story throughout his whole health-care crusade. Its original premise was that our current financial crisis was rooted in neglect of three things -- energy, education and health care. That transparent attempt to exploit Emanuel's Law -- a crisis is a terrible thing to waste -- failed for health care because no one is stupid enough to believe that the 2008 financial collapse was caused by a lack of universal health care.

So on to the next gambit: selling health-care reform as a cure for the deficit. When that was exploded by the Congressional Budget Office's demonstration of staggering Obamacare deficits, Obama tried a new tack: selling his plan as revenue-neutral insurance reform -- until the revenue neutrality is exposed as phony future cuts and chimerical waste and fraud. Obama doesn't lie. He implies, he misdirects, he misleads -- so fluidly and incessantly that he risks transmuting eloquence into mere slickness.

Slickness wasn't fatal to "Slick Willie" Clinton because he possessed a winning, nearly irresistible charm. Obama's persona is more cool, distant, imperial. The charming scoundrel can get away with endless deception; the righteous redeemer cannot. Source: Washington Post

Wow, doesn't this person sound a lot like George W. Bush and the eight years of waste and fraud we endured? Now the President is being called a "scoundrel." Wow. This is amazing.

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) Pulls Race Card on Obamacare: "Why Do Black People Have to Bargain for What is Theirs?"

Here we go again, the two-bit shyster leading the House Ways and Means Committee is in the news again. This time he is joining New York Governor David Paterson in pulling the race card when it's convenient. As if anyone would take Rep. Charlie Rangel seriously since he is under fire for being a liar and a cheat, having amended his disclosure forms with "found money," he has entered the Obamacare fray. He said "bias" and "prejudice" are fueling opposition to health care reform. Hey Charlie, pulling the race card should be the least of your worries. Nancy Pelosi needs to get a backbone and kick you off the committee by any means necessary. Rangel said, "some Americans have not gotten over the fact that Obama is President of the United States. They go to sleep wondering, 'how did this happen?'" He also likened the fight to provide health care for the uninsured to the fight for civil rights? Really Charlie?

"Why do black people have to bargain for what is theirs? Why do we have to wait for the right to vote? Why can't we get what God has given us? And that is the right to live as human beings and not negotiate with white southerners and not court the votes. Just do the right thing," Rangel said. Source:  CBS News

I think it's time for Charlie Rangel to find another job. He is a disgrace to his constituency. He has lost his effectiveness. He has sullied his position as chairman of such a powerful committee that is charged with writing tax codes. How can we have a cheat in such a position? To add insult to injury, he has stooped even lower by pulling the race card. This has nothing to do with the civil rights fight and that is an insult to all the thousands of blacks and whites who gave their lives in the struggle for racial justice and equality, which I might add, has served Rep. Charlie Rangel well.

John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO, Says: "The Whole Foods Alternative To ObamaCare" -- Just Eat Whole Foods!

For those of you who shop at Whole Foods Market, it is time to revisit that decision and find an alternative. John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO, wrote an op-ed on health care reform in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, in which he said,"Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat." Really? Is Whole Foods Market, AKA "Whole Paycheck," the solution for America's health care crisis? The exorbitant prices they charge aren't for the feint of heart.

For those of you who think that Whole Foods Market is a godsend, news flash -- not all of the foods sold there will actually make you healthier. In fact, last week Mackey said it best, even though he put his foot in his mouth, he admitted, "Basically, we used to think it was enough just to sell healthy food, but we know it is not enough. We sell all kinds of candy. We sell a bunch of junk."A boycott of this company should be the next move for all those people who have been genuinely insulted by his comments. I used to shop at Whole Foods, but I found Trader Joe's to be a viable alternative, with more attractive prices. So, my parting words to John Mackey is to stick to his day job and stop selling junk at your stores at such exorbitant prices.

Right Wing Racist Email with Photo of President Obama in Tribal Dress With Bone in His Nose Attacks Proposed Healthcare Plan

Another racist picture of President Barack Obama is making its way around the Internet, thanks in large part, to the conservatives and Rethuglicans. I found this very interesting article on Comedy Central's Indecision. This racist picture is in the same vein as the offerings from conservative extraordinaire Michelle Malkin. The picture is making its way around under the subject line Obamacare Healthcare is coming soon!

This was not widely reported in the "MSM," but last month the delightful Michelle Malkin ran a very important "Obamacare poster contest" on her blog, which soars o'er the muck of the Internet like a million eagles screeching into the sunset.

The submissions Michelle received were just as insightful, nuanced and discerning as you might imagine, and obviously this is an excellent way to advance the health care debate in the United States, some fun Photoshopping. It beats a lame sketch about Hitler, right? Really, I couldn't see how any of it would ever go wrong, this festive mix of rational thought and creativity and free speech and technology and all. Source: Comedy Central's Indecision

This another dirty and sneaky attack by the right wing. I know that President George W. Bush was caricatured and ridiculed, but it was never racial and racist. This is just plain racist and an insult to Africans, Native American Indians and other ethnicities who still wear their native or tribal costumes. This is just plain sick and reprehensible.