Charles Krauthammer writes:
In the 48 hours of June 15-16, President Obama lost the health-care debate. First, a letter from the Congressional Budget Office to Sen. Edward Kennedy reported that his health committee’s reform bill would add $1 trillion in debt over the next decade. Then the CBO reported that the other Senate bill, being written by the Finance Committee, would add $1.6 trillion. The central contradiction of Obamacare was fatally exposed: From his first address to Congress, Obama insisted on the dire need for restructuring the health-care system because out-of-control costs were bankrupting the Treasury and wrecking the U.S. economy—yet the Democrats’ plans would make the problem worse.
As Krauthammer points out, Obama and his spin squad have tried to disguise the fiscal implications of ObamaCare by a variety of dodges. “Prevention reduces costs” is just the latest misinformation to be thrown up against the proverbial wall to see what sticks with wary Blue Dogs and an even warier public.
In more than seven months of ObamaCare salesmanship, we’ve seen a boatload of mischaracterizations and outright lies. The public option won’t chase out private insurers. Wrong. We can bend the cost curve without affecting care. Wrong. We can pay for this without massive tax hikes. Wrong again.
Unfortunately for the Obama team, their opponents now—unlike the McCain team, which was trampled in the election—have been able to marshal the facts, make a convincing case against a government-centric health-care system, and (with a large assist from the courageously honest CBO) explain to the public that Obama is frankly making stuff up.
What does the public conclude about Obama more generally now? Perhaps they finally see him in a different light. He is not the master of commonsense and opponent of political chicanery, but the reverse. He’s not the pragmatist, but the ideologue-in-chief. And he just isn’t leveling with the public.
Worse than losing the health-care debate is losing the trust of the voters. And if he keeps this up, Obama will do both.
