"I didn't campaign on a public option."-The Truth-O-Meter Says:

[NewLIfeArea]

barley true..

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/dec/23/barack-obama/public-option-obama-platform/

[mcablue]

1. That's closer to "false" than it is true

In their scale. Doesn't look good for President Obama's honesty.

[HughMoran]

43. Whereas you hate his filthy guts

That's a huge compliment coming from you.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Would he take an "oat" about saying that?

:P

[Ken Burch]

3. "barley true"?

It's only true if you hear it after several beers?

[Divine Discontent]

4. and even then, it still sounds like BS... I know, I'm drinking!

[Ken Burch]

5. I'll buy you the next cyber-round.

From my hometown brewery here in Juneau!

[Divine Discontent]

8. woh!!! shit yeah! that's HUGH!!!! It looks like a pitcher of ale on my screen! Thanks!

[Garam_Masala]

10. How many of these he had when he was for the P.O.?

[jgraz]

11. Quite the rye commentary.

[sandnsea]

6. "not a very prominent part of his campaign"

that's what the article says, which is true and what Obama said, he didn't campaign on the public option and he didn't.

[mcablue]

7. He didn't say "I didn't campaign a lot." He said "I didn't campaign on the public option"

And he did.

[sandnsea]

21. "campaign on" means made a key point of a campaign

I would say it's an element of his campaign that he didn't fulfill, but it's not the same as a broken campaign promise because it wasn't something he focused on as much as having negotiations on CSpan which he didn't do as good a job with as he should have.

[mcablue]

29. One doesn't have to promise something twice in order for it to be a promise

That's why Politifact lists the public option as a campaign promise. He said he would give us health reform with a public plan. He said it more than once, though not many times. There isn't a minimum number of times required for something to be a promise.

[sandnsea]

39. It's his ideal program, yes

But he didn't "campaign" on the public option the way he did ending pre-existing conditions and subsidies and the insurance exchange.

[Orangepeel]

9. I'd characterize it as a "misstatement" rather than a deliberate lie

YMMV

It was something that he was quoted as saying in an interview, but I doubt it was something he planned on saying. It was stupid and probably came out of having a guilty conscience. I wish the reporter would have followed up and written about his answer.

In his PBS interview today, he says that he supports the public option but couldn't get it through and considers the bill worth passing anyway.

[Kalun D]

14. All You Need to Know

""he says that he supports the public option but couldn't get it through and considers the bill worth passing anyway.""

Couldn't get it through cuz he didn't try. "Worth passing anyway" tells you he's a corporate dem. Cuz as it comes out of the Senate it's worse than nothing.

[uponit7771]

15. Link and quote evidence of Obama "not trying" on the public option...

[Kalun D]

41. No Time

and would it change your mind?

The end results say he didn't try. He beat the Clintons, one of the most polished teams in recent history. He could get meaningful health care reform if he wanted it. The fact that he promised it and we haven't seen him front and center since is telling.

Go down the list he's flip flopped on all his campaign promises. these are just a few

Said no lobbyists/insiders, nothing but lobbyists insiders.

After getting huge Union support he's given them exactly ZERO.

Promised to end signing statements, continues signing statements.

Promised to raise taxes on the rich, didn't raise taxes on the rich.

promised to close Gitmo, after a year, he's just trying to move Gitmo. These are POW's with no charges filed against them, they are just being held without trial.

Obama is a grifter, it's business as usual in DC. He's actually worse than Bill Clinton.

Trillions for wars and the bankers, jack crap for citizens without health care.

[jgraz]

12. Once again, Politi"fact" shades the truth in Obama's favor.

Their ridiculous Obameter is another example of their slavery to conventional wisdom.

[BklnDem75]

17. Are they inaccurate?

Please point out where. Leave the hate. It clouds your judgment.

[jgraz]

18. Yes, they're inaccurate.

And speaking of clouded judgment, not everyone who questions President McDreamy is a "hater". Some people just don't agree with what he's doing.

Maybe you should turn off "Crush on Obama" and join the rest of us at the adults' table.

[BklnDem75]

19. You didn't point out inaccuracies

Want to try again?

[jgraz]

20. Now that you've dropped the ridiculous "hater" crap, I will

Obama clearly campaigned on the Public Option. He had it on his campaign site and he mentioned it in speeches.

Here's their last paragraph:

Obama's new claim is, "I didn't campaign on a public option." We will stipulate that it was not a particularly prominent part of his overall platform for health care. But we find that the public option was part of Obama's campaign materials, and that counts. So we rate his statement Barely True.

In what Bizarro world is that "Barely True"??? If Bush tried to shave the truth like this, wouldn't every one of us agree that his statement was "Completely False"? Why should Obama be held to a lower standard than Bush?

[BklnDem75]

22. Perhaps they read the whole statement instead of just one line?

In the interview, Obama vigorously defended the legislation, saying he is "not just grudgingly supporting the bill. I am very enthusiastic about what we have achieved."

"Nowhere has there been a bigger gap between the perceptions of compromise and the realities of compromise than in the health-care bill," Obama said. "Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill."

In listing those priorities, he cited the 30 million uninsured Americans projected to receive coverage, estimated savings of more than $1 trillion over the next two decades, a "patients' bill of rights on steroids," and tax breaks to help small businesses pay for employee coverage.

Those elements are in the House and Senate versions of the legislation; their competing proposals will have to be reconciled in conference committee next year. The House bill includes a government-run insurance plan favored by progressive Democrats; the Senate version does not. "I didn't campaign on the public option," Obama said in the interview.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122202101.html


The last quote by itself makes it seem like a flat out lie. When you read the quote in it's entirety, any literate person could see what he was trying to say. He's clearly referring to the focus of his health plan that happened to include a public option. When you go back to his 'sliver' remark, he's clearly saying the public option is great, but only a small part of what he's trying to get for America with his health plan.

[jgraz]

23. I've read the entire WaPo article and Politifact's writeup.

It's a lie, plain and simple. Worse, it's a lie that depends on the American people being too stupid to remember his campaign from a year ago. Obama's not only bullshitting us, he's showing his contempt for us at the same time.

[BklnDem75]

24. That's your opinion

An opinion based on what Obama meant when he used the word 'campaign.'

[jgraz]

25. A parsing worthy of Bill Clinton

I'm sooo glad we went with the CHANGE candidate :eyes:

[BklnDem75]

26. So am I

:toast:

[jgraz]

27. OK, I walked into that one.

time for bed :hi:

[BklnDem75]

28. Same here

Pleasant dreams

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

33. You seem to be willfully ignoring what Politifact said....

They draw a clear distinction between a statement that is buring eight clicks deep in the candidate's website and a issue upon which the candidate is actively campaigning. There are statements in the Democratic National Platform that I'm sure Obama didn't even know were there and that he may not even agree with. Nobody except party activists and shut-ins reads that stuff.

The other point here is that mentioning Public Option in the context of five or six other ideas for health care reform DOESN'T make it the key element in Obama's plan. I understand that people who passionately want a Public Option glommed onto those statements and clung to them, but that doesn't create an obligation on Obama's part to give you every last thing that you want.

[jgraz]

35. Really, it was "eight clicks deep"? Did you count?

How deep does it have to be before it stops being a lie? ...especially considering the number of times Obama mentioned the website and encouraged people to check out his full plan for America.

Are you saying he was too lazy to check his own presidential campaign site? Sounds almost Palinesque.

[mcablue]

30. BKln, do you agree with Politifact that Obama's statement was even worse than "half true"?

Because in their scale, "barely true," is the worst outcome next to "false." It's not even "half true".

[BklnDem75]

34. I agree with Politifact's assessment. I don't agree it's worse

As I told Jgraz, the difference between Obama's statement being the truth or a complete lie teeters on the way Obama used the word 'campaign.' The last line of his statement could mean one of two things:

1)He didn't run the public option as part of his campaign. That would be a lie since we all know he did.

2)He didn't market/sell/campaign his health plan on the public option. That is true. He was selling a complete package with the public option as one of it's goals. When taken with the 'sliver' remark a few months ago, he obviously focused on something much greater to sell his health plan.

It's still unclear which meaning PolitiFact is basing their meter on, but I'm pretty sure they didn't want to assume without more verification, which is a wise course. After reviewing what they consider 'half truths' and 'almost there' on their meters, those depended on the boosting/fudging of numbers or misinterpretations of the law. Those just don't apply in this case.

[jgraz]

36. I have another word for "half true": lie.

I can't believe how much of a pass they're willing to give politicians. OF COURSE a politician is going to try to avoid telling an outright lie. They're going to argue the meaning of "is" until you give up and go home. But the truth is, the statement was intended to deceive. That's a *lie* in my book.

[jeanpalmer]

13. "as I said in that speech on Sept. 9,

it is just one small element of a broader reform effort." Seems it has become a very small element, mostly invisible.

[PBS Poll-435]

16. I don't know how you got to 10 posts, let alone 40.

If you suck at life, you must REALLY suck at NewLife.

:D

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

31. Politifact Drank the Kool-Aid!

They just waving their pom-poms!!!

:sarcasm:

[AllentownJake]

32. The term Public Option was not used in 2008

It was a Public Health Care plan in all the campaign literature, so yes he didn't campaign on a public option, he did campaign on the definition of a Public Option.

Either way he is an ass for saying that.

[Milo_Bloom]

37. Well, I guess he wasn't physically standing on a public option when he campaigned.

So barely true.

[phleshdef]

38. If Obama wanted to be really picky, the public plan he campaigned on was NOTHING like the PO...

...that was in the Senate bill before it was dropped

[Bluenorthwest]

40. As a person targeted by Obama's religious dogmas

The very idea of splitting hairs and parsing words and 'spinning' in his own favor is a thing greatly condemned by the religion he claims is so dear to him. Those of his faith, especially those who would proclaim that faith in the public square in judgment of others, are instructed to speak in painstakingly clear, direct terms, avoiding even the possibility that you might be misunderstood, and seem to be lying.
So it gets very difficult to endure the lecturing about how GLBT people are not meeting the standards of a religion he himself does not even attempt to practice. Such a hypocritical and self serving use of sacred things and of the truth are not aspects of character I find to be indicative of a good person, in a real and meaningful sense.
One who would partner up with McClurkin and Warren has no wiggle room in terms of honesty and morality around truth. He needs to live his faith scrupulously or shut the fuck up about the lives of others.

[boppers]

42. Not a bad piece.

Covers the details, explains the rationale behind his statements.

[burning rain]

44. As Laurence O'Donnell so mordantly put it....

"It depends on what the meaning of 'campaign' is." Actually what PolitiFact is doing here, is pretty disreputable. They are ignoring that Obama's statement suggests--while not saying it explicitly, because that would be an obvious lie--the idea that he didn't voice support for the public option in campaigning for the presidency. It is what philosophy calls suggestio falsi--the suggestion of something not true, and it is heavy-duty deceitfulness: trying to implant a false thought while wording your statement in a way that offers you some protection from accusations of lying. It is regrettable to see PolitiFact act in such a dodgy way, excusing deceit on the basis that it's arguably not a bald-faced lie.