“Even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they’ve got.” - Bill Clinton
"Honor" is not the first word that comes to mind when one thinks of Bill Clinton. It is thus not wholly without irony that the proclaimer of, "I did not have sex with that woman" talks about public moral obligation.
Substantively, Clinton has a point. The President made, repetitively, two promises: That those who want to keep their current health insurance could do so, and that they could also retain their current physicians.
One of three things happened: (1) The President lied. (2) His advisors misled him and sent him out with incorrect information. (3) The President didn't take the time to read and grasp what was in his own mammoth proposal.
If the third option is correct, this makes Mr. Obama far from unique. Many Washington politicians don't know the details of the bills about which they vote. They rely on aides to give them succinct summaries or quickly read "vote justification" sheets handed to them by leadership staff as they enter the House or Senate chambers.
This is troubling, but also understandable: The size and scope of the federal government and its laws and regulations is almost incomprehensible, and massive legislative tomes, many of which are written in technical legal language, frequently are too long and too dense for careful review prior to the time set to vote on them.
Yet this is a different case. The President of the United States put forward two essential un-truths about his signature domestic policy achievement, one that he touted as "a new season for America." If anyone should have understood his law, he should have.
I take no pleasure in accusing Mr. Obama of either deliberate lying or disturbing inattention. It's worth noting that such traits cut across party lines, political convictions, and status of office. Mr. Obama would not be unique among politicians or presidents in persistently telling a falsehood or trusting unwisely in the reassurances of unelected advisors. But this makes him no less responsible for his misrepresentations.
Christians should not gloat over Mr. Obama's failures. We should, instead, pray for our President and for the other national leaders who now must sort through the devastation the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is wreaking.
The new season Mr. Obama promised is indeed upon us. The chill is penetrating to the national core.
