Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on September 15, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
For several months, Barack Obama tried to assure Americans that ObamaCare would not mean that they had to give up their existing health-insurance plans. As the plan melted down in the August heat, Obama seemed to realize that people knew that a public option and the new “exchanges” would impact the choices their employers make — and since well over half of all Americans have employer-based coverage, that meant Obama’s guarantee simply wasn’t the truth. Instead of guaranteeing that people could keep their coverage and doctors, Obama changed the message on Wednesday to say that his plan wouldn’t require that they change either one.
Unfortunately, Obama’s message shift had a relapse in Minneapolis on Saturday (via Jennifer Rubin and Mary Katharine Ham):
Now let me be clear. Let me be clear. Let me be clear: It would only be an option. Nobody would be forced to choose it. No one with insurance would be affected by it. But what it would do is, it would provide more choice and more competition. (Applause.) It would keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable, to treat their customers better.
Yes, people with insurance would be affected by it if their employers decided to dump them out of their current plan. It will also be affected by the restrictions in the exchange, as existing plans will not all qualify, but specifically, the public option allows employers to dump health insurance altogether, and the CBO estimates that millions will have that very problem if ObamaCare passes.
Can Obama pick one message and stick with it? Even for just a week?
Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
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Let me be clear. This is deliberate obfuscation.
Fletch54 on September 15, 2009 at 8:09 AM
You’ve hit on my biggest pet peeve with this legislation. The filthy liar in the White House continues to gloss over the facts and assumes the public is too damned stupid to see his lies for what they are.
highhopes on September 15, 2009 at 8:09 AM
TOTUS has a mind of its own.
highhopes on September 15, 2009 at 8:10 AM
Let me be clear, I have lied so much to you numbskulls that I can’t remember what I said before.
jbh45 on September 15, 2009 at 8:11 AM
Must have been talking to a union crowd. Aren’t they exempt from Obamacare?
ctmom on September 15, 2009 at 8:11 AM
+1
————–
dear leader will ruin it for the majority of the folks in this great nation…
cmsinaz on September 15, 2009 at 8:12 AM
Words…Just Words….
kingsjester on September 15, 2009 at 8:12 AM
Hopey/Changey ShapeShifter!!
canopfor on September 15, 2009 at 8:13 AM
He says what he needs to say depending on the crowd he’s speaking to. That’s how it was during the campaign, and that’s how it’s been for nearly 8 months since he took office.
Doughboy on September 15, 2009 at 8:13 AM
Pointing out Dear Leader’s lies is racist!
waaaahhhh, waaaahhhh, waaaahhh.
/lefty troll rant.
rbj on September 15, 2009 at 8:13 AM
Words. Just words.
Don’t tell me my words mean anything!
— Presocchio
Loxodonta on September 15, 2009 at 8:14 AM
I didn’t listen to Obama’s speech, but did he really say “Let me be clear” three times in a row and then say something that was not clear? That phrase is starting to sound a lot like a used car salesman saying “Trust me” when he wants you to take a big bite of a lie.
MikeA on September 15, 2009 at 8:15 AM
dear leader is in campaign mode, will say what he needs to say to the kool aid drinkers
cmsinaz on September 15, 2009 at 8:15 AM
So true. It’s catching up with him but yet no one in his administration seems to be able to stop him. The sheer fact that this man can’t keep his mouth shut or filter his words is the most bittersweet aspect of this whole charade.
sherry on September 15, 2009 at 8:17 AM
I don’t think he’s ever had to get specific about controversial legislative details in his whole life before this. He doesn’t seem very good at it, nor is he eager to learn. Oh, but he’s clean and articulate!
jwolf on September 15, 2009 at 8:17 AM
It’s clear to me he’s lying.
becki51758 on September 15, 2009 at 8:17 AM
Which side of his mouth will he talk out of tomorrow? Perhaps another orifice?
trubble on September 15, 2009 at 8:17 AM
I wouldn’t trust this pathologically lying nutsack if he told me the sun would rise in the morning. Everything else is melting down at a terrifying rate due to his crappy policies and all he can do is lie about health care. Rome is burning, Nero is rambling.
Monica on September 15, 2009 at 8:18 AM
Well,at the rate Obama is going,he is securing himself
top spot in the Lying Hall of Fame,and I think he has
surpassed Bill Clinton as Lying King!!
canopfor on September 15, 2009 at 8:19 AM
kill the bill. even with all the “good” changes made to the bill, federal law still applies to it. so hospitals must still treat illegals, i suspect (i haven’t read the Baucus bill–can anyone point me to it?) that abortions can still be federally funded.
and the bottom line is this: supposing you have good ins. today. but tomorrow you lose your job. the only insurance available then will be some program where the govt. is heavily involved. that is the biggest lie. and he keeps telling it over & over.
kelley in virginia on September 15, 2009 at 8:19 AM
So, people with insurance would not be affected by the plan that provides more choice and makes it more competitive? Huh?
Then why even talk about passing it if it makes no difference OBarfy?
The affordability question is supect, too, seeing it doesn’t affect people with insurance.
Just words….
OkieDoc on September 15, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Reminds me of that old saying that it’s easier to tell the truth than to lie, because when you tell the truth you don’t have to worry about keeping your story straight. But I guess Obama doesn’t have to worry about that, since the media and much of the public don’t seem to care that he continually changes his story, and often contradicts himself in the same speech.
AZCoyote on September 15, 2009 at 8:22 AM
As I have said all along, Obama is a politician, not a statesman.
backwoods conservative on September 15, 2009 at 8:23 AM
No, our Fence Post Turtle-in-Chief won’t do that. First he has to check which way the wind is blowing and just how gullible his audience is…lest some recalcitrant voter yell out “You LIE!”
Barb Dwyer on September 15, 2009 at 8:23 AM
For a Dem it’s not a lie if he really believes it.
JimK on September 15, 2009 at 8:24 AM
President Joe Isuzu.
Josiah on September 15, 2009 at 8:26 AM
Relax, you racist wingnuts!
I’m sure that Obamacare is destined to be the same kind of spectacular success that the Porkulus has been! Why,it will probably succeed even better than Duh Won expects, just like Porkulus!
/Biden
VelvetElvis on September 15, 2009 at 8:26 AM
The new and approved Baucus bill will be released today or tomorrow. Yippee!
becki51758 on September 15, 2009 at 8:26 AM
Or as my High School Physics teacher liked to say, “Obfuscation is my forte”
c.u.shoeless on September 15, 2009 at 8:27 AM
This is not an Obamateurism.
These are calculated misleading statements by the President of the United States.
albill on September 15, 2009 at 8:28 AM
:-)
cmsinaz on September 15, 2009 at 8:28 AM
He has said before ‘just tell me what you want, and I’ll sell it’. I’m not even sure he believes in what he pitches.
He’s a chronic liar and he will say whatever it is he feels needs to be said to sell his product. Snake oil salesman, Sham-Wow Presidency, many of the comments describing him ackowledge this fact.
Why are we surprised when he lies? It should be news when he is telling the truth.
Mr Purple on September 15, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Okay, here’s something that I don’t get, and please pardon my confusion, but:
Why aren’t health insurance companies scrambling to revamp and save their own hides and help cut off any necessity for Obamacare in the first place?
Do they seem to be sitting idly by or is it just me that sees it this way?
Or are they somehow in on the deal, like BigPharma and the AMA?
misslizzi on September 15, 2009 at 8:29 AM
Wait a tic,Obama is still stuck in Community Organizing mode!!
canopfor on September 15, 2009 at 8:31 AM
Of course not! You don’t have to get very specific to vote “Present.” Also, I haven’t looked it up, but did he evah put his name on any piece of legislation? He must have, right??? (Crickets?? Do I hear crickets?)
Chewy the Lab on September 15, 2009 at 8:31 AM
I just happened to be alive when Obama is President of the US and Rudd is Prime Minister of Australia.
After listening to Obama today then Rudd in the Australian Parliament I’m depressed with how similar they sound.
Crux Australis on September 15, 2009 at 8:31 AM
You lie.
First off, even if people weren’t forced onto it by employers dumping private plans, we’re still going to have to pay for it through higher direct taxation or by some other means like “fees” on private insurance – they will come up with something.
I hope he fails.
forest on September 15, 2009 at 8:32 AM
I’ve been trying to figure that out too. You’d think they’d be proactive but it’s like they’re either scared or have something to gain that we aren’t seeing. This will kill their business models in a matter of a few years.
Monica on September 15, 2009 at 8:32 AM
misslizzi: big HealthIns is in on the deal. they’ve been in on the lobbying since the very beginning.
i don’t understand the ins & outs, but i do know they are in on it.
kelley in virginia on September 15, 2009 at 8:33 AM
The misleading statements about the public option are what nudges up the poll numbers.
myrenovations on September 15, 2009 at 8:35 AM
So it’s Big Money all the way around?
How the hell can we fight this?
I’m so depressed about this right now. It almost seems as if Obama is not even the issue here.
misslizzi on September 15, 2009 at 8:38 AM
So many of the Obamateurisms can be summed up this way (per the chants in DC Saturday): You Lie! You Lie! You Lie!
Christian Conservative on September 15, 2009 at 8:41 AM
Can Obama pick one message and stick with it? Even for just a week?
He says what he needs to say depending on the crowd he’s speaking to. That’s how it was during the campaign, and that’s how it’s been for nearly 8 months since he took office.
Doughboy on September 15, 2009
Besides, who’s going to call him on it anywhere in the MSM?
SKYFOX on September 15, 2009 at 8:41 AM
They would be exempt from a proposed new tax on health care benefits under the Baucus version of Obamacare. And here’s the key, as noted in the linked article:
It would penalize every non-union recipient of employer-provided healthcare benefits. Thereby, adding a tax incentive to join/vote in a union.
Call me paranoid, but I’m beginning to see purple T-shirts in the strangest places. Card check, anyone?
Barnestormer on September 15, 2009 at 8:42 AM
Keep this in mind…A GOVERNMENT RUN BUSINESS DOES NOT HAVE TO PRODUCE A PROFIT. Look at the post office look at medicare, look at the VA. How in the world does the government plan to offer compitition to the insurance companies when the govt doesn’t have to produce a profit?
SO in essence he is right, he won’t make you change to the govt plan, your insurance company will due to the fact that you CANNOT COMPETE WITH SOMETHING THAT DOES NOT HAVE TO PRODUCE A PROFIT.
milwife88 on September 15, 2009 at 8:42 AM
I believe he sponsored that piece of legislation in Illinois that made it a crime to help ease the pain and suffering of the babies slated to die. Hope that makes you feel better about the filthy liar in the White House.
highhopes on September 15, 2009 at 8:42 AM
Maybe next time,when Obama has another prime time speech,
he could be hooked up to a lie detector gizmo,and on the
right side of your tv screen,is a red circle for lying,
and a green one for the truth,and when he lies,the red will
light up!!(Snark).
canopfor on September 15, 2009 at 8:47 AM
“Let me be clear” means ‘Really BIG Lie to follow…’
Juno77 on September 15, 2009 at 8:47 AM
Did he do the “Let me be clear” three times because he was trying to talk over the crowd? I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But if he was not, then he knew he was getting ready to tell a huge wopper!
Johnnyreb on September 15, 2009 at 8:50 AM
Slightly OT, but maybe not. Does any one know or care how much time Obama spends flying around the country delivering speeches? Does he spend any time actually working?
BillyGoatGruff on September 15, 2009 at 8:54 AM
Too bad he isn’t willing to do the same in regards to people like Sarah Palin, whom he called a liar in his House Speech. Too bad he isn’t doing the same when he lies and says the Republicans will “block reform at any cost.”
Beaglemom on September 15, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Nothing at all…except if you lose your job or your employer decides not to make health insurance available to you. That’s when the government steps in and MANDATES enrollment in their plan. You have NO choices or options left. Bureaucrats get to decide exactly what kind of coverage you need and how much you will pay for it. And, to make it really simple for you, they’ll be able to access all your finances and take the money right out of your bank account. Isn’t that great? No pesky check to write, no postage stamps to buy and stick on the envelope. Think of all the time and money you’ll save while you stand on line waiting for that doctors appointment or the MRI that you should have had six months ago.
Barb Dwyer on September 15, 2009 at 9:01 AM
Smartest man on the planet. Most honest, and ethical, too.
Seriously, how could anybody defend this clown any more?
mr.blacksheep on September 15, 2009 at 9:08 AM
FIFY
Daggett on September 15, 2009 at 9:12 AM
Is this a rhetorical question?
NeighborhoodCatLady on September 15, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Why change now?
ladyingray on September 15, 2009 at 9:19 AM
The only thing that will satisfy me is that they dropped all of this “Health Care Reform” and annonuce that they are going to start the process of abolishing Medi/whatev.
It would take 20-30 years so no one would get cuaght short, but it can be done.
Get the Gov’ment out of our lives! Let me succeed or fail on my own merits.
davidk on September 15, 2009 at 9:20 AM
That he can’t stick with a message is not altogether bad, in that it partly reflects the public outcry over the more outrageous features of HR 3200, that 1,000+ page monstrosity that is being exposed piece by piece. The snake oil pitch changes with changes in the ingredients list. Think of the process as serial focus group testing writ large.
Barnestormer on September 15, 2009 at 9:35 AM
misslizzi on September 15, 2009 at 8:29 AM
flytier on September 15, 2009 at 9:35 AM
misslizzi on September 15, 2009 at 8:29 AM
It’s because of federal regs not allowing them to sell across state lines. If we changed that one thing, it would solve any cost and coverage problems.
flytier on September 15, 2009 at 9:36 AM
I want my pony… now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NWtBhSp74I
WordsMatter on September 15, 2009 at 9:48 AM
If Obummer was really speaking clearly, he wouldn’t have to tell us three times to let him be clear. This is clear as mud, which is why people have doubts!!!
America to Obama: Let US be clear! We don’t want it!!!
Steve Z on September 15, 2009 at 9:53 AM
You Lie!
Guardian on September 15, 2009 at 9:54 AM
Providing employees with a health care plan is part of the contract companies have with union workers. The contracts would have to be re-negotiated before the plan could be dumped. I see workers getting the shaft from unions and the companies. Non-union workers will get dumped into the public option, exchange or co-op as well. Voila, gov run health care.
Kissmygrits on September 15, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Whenever Obama says, “Let me be clear,” I know the next words out of his mouth will only have a slight relationship with the truth.
Sheerq on September 15, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Perhaps some elder statesmen here on Hot Air remember another President who often wanted to “let me make one thing perfectly clear”–Richard Nixon. Unlike Obama, the media went after Nixon relentlessly, and Nixon’s lies brought him down.
“Let me be clear”, by Barack “I am not a crook” Obama.
Steve Z on September 15, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Changing the snake oil pitch is all well and good, but the main thrust of ObamaCare will remain the same…the mandated government plan. They may or may not throw in a bone or two – tort reform is supposed to be under consideration. Barry appears to be pushing the original plan – HR 3200. One of the biggest problems is the way that malevolent thing is written. The language is incomprehensible unless you’ve got a team of lawyers to translate it for you. There’s too much wiggle room and entire paragraphs can be interpreted six different ways. Even after it’s passed, God forbid IF that ever happens, they can add and change parts of it in committee.
After Joe Wilson called out Barry on the illegal immigration thing they quickly changed it. You have to know that will change again as soon as congress grants amnesty to all the illegals in this country. And trust me, that’s coming next.
Look at what happened in the UK.
Barb Dwyer on September 15, 2009 at 10:08 AM
Where they will find, unlike their unionized counterparts, that their health benefits are now taxable as income. But hey, what’s wrong with a little extra boost to the “labor movement?”
Barnestormer on September 15, 2009 at 10:09 AM
I was thinking of a Obama retelling a lie that has already been proven to be a lie drinking game, but i have too much respect for my liver.
darktood on September 15, 2009 at 10:17 AM
He will, he will… he just hasn’t found one that the American people will go along with, yet.
He’s trying all kinds of things on for size, and as soon as he finds one that fits, he’ll be all over it.
jana on September 15, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Keeping the lies straight is HARD.
jukin on September 15, 2009 at 11:08 AM
THE PRESIDENT IS A LIAR!
GarandFan on September 15, 2009 at 11:31 AM
When he says let me be clear or as I have said before, you know a big lie is coming.
conservativegrandma on September 15, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Let me be perfectly clear, I was for it, before I was against it, but inbetween I kinda waivered before I finally came to my current position which is as I have spoken of many times.
That should clarify the matter.
BHO
DuctTapeMyBrain on September 15, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Elites like Obama have a tendency to think the masses are ignorant.
kit on September 15, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Wow, his speech formula is quite ‘Basic,’ isn’t it?
10 PRINT “Let me be clear.”
20 X = RND(0,99)
30 IF X < 20 THEN GOTO 10
40 PRINT “It would only be an option.”
James on September 15, 2009 at 4:49 PM