The most chilling part of the Affordable Care Act is not the shoddy website. It will be fixed. Or the loss of 15 million insurance policies. They will be replaced. It is not even the broken promises. It is the way in which they were broken.

A President without integrity

In so thoroughly misrepresenting the effects of the Affordable Care Act, the President of the United States revealed a true self that shatters any image of personal or moral integrity. It was not that he lied. After all, people do. What is so unsettling is the ease with which he passionately and convincingly assured 300 million Americans that ‘up’ was ‘down’ and ‘bad’ was ‘good’.

There was no hint of deceit, and were it not for being caught red-handed, it would be impossible for most men and women to unravel his deception.

This is no insignificant slip. Millions will be hurt. This is not misspeak. Rather it is a chilling deception that displays unbound disregard for supporters and disdain for opponents.

When Richard Nixon lied, you sensed something was wrong. There was a perceivable sneak in his assurances. As far back as his 1950 Senate run, his obvious style had earned him the name ‘Tricky Dick.’

But President Obama operates at a more cultivated and persistent level of deceit. Once exposed, he doubles down on misrepresentations, apparently confident of his ability to sway emotions with words.

Affordable Care Act: an insincere apology

Barack H. Obama. Photo: Pete Souza, January 13, 2009

In an apology layered with outrage and consternation he assured that only 5% of Americans are involved. Yet, even that is false. When the temporarily delayed employer mandates unfold, according to the CBO and Federal Register, another 50 – 75 million or nearly 25% of all Americans will lose their current insurance. This doesn’t even address those who will lose their physicians.

His near pathological adherence to the ends justifying the means is too honed to be a recent acquisition.

In a 2009 interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Mr. Obama vigorously “reject[ed] the notion that the individual mandate is a tax.” Since then, we have learned the law calls for 14,000 new IRS agents, his justice department defended the mandate as a tax, and the Supreme Court ruled it a tax. Mr. Obama hailed the court’s decision, and has been noticeably silent on the issue since.

Globally, allies England, Germany, Egypt, Israel and Ireland have all questioned Mr. Obama’s trustworthiness. It was not lost on world leaders that, in June of this year, Mr. Obama publicly denied NSA spying “applied to U.S. citizens,” contradicting senior officials who agreed it applied to tens of millions of them. What effect can this have on international relations and peace?

Harry Reid once complimented Sen. Obama for an impressive 2006 speech. The soon to be president remarked, “I have a gift, Harry.” Mr. Reid said the self-compliment was rendered in humility. Perhaps not, Mr. Reid. Perhaps Mr. Obama’s real gift was not the speech, but his ability to convince you of his sincerity.

Politics has become so corrupt, we as a nation have lowered our expectations for integrity. But, how low can we afford to go?

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