Lies of Obamacare: The next generation -- By Scott Johnson, PowerLine

President Obama held a campaign-style rally at the White House yesterday to support Obamacare. The White House has posted his remarks here. John Hinderaker commented on one thread of the remarks here and I commented on another here.

Playing the role of Sherlock Holmes, John identifies the dog that didn’t bark in Obama’s remarks: the critical first-generation lie of Obamacare that “if you like your health plank, you can keep your health plan. Period.” The cancelation of millions of health plans as a result of Obamacare went unmentioned even as Obama touted the “half a million people across the country are poised to gain health care coverage through marketplaces and Medicaid beginning on January 1st” (some translation required). That takes brass.

The heart of the speech represents the next generation of Obamacare lies. Here is the dog that did bark, with the theme: “The bottom line is this law is working and will work into the future.” Consistent with this theme, Obama asserted that “today, the [Healthcare.gov] website is working well for the vast majority of users.” The heart of Obama’s speech signals Obama’s approach to the current and future problems of implementation: the Jarrett jam down.

What we see in Obama’s rally yesterday is the intransigence and strong arm of senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, on display most notably on the President Shamwow Rose Rose Garden rally on October 21. James Ceaser captured the essence:

[S]ome of the president’s disagreeable qualities have become manifest. Instead of fessing up like an ordinary guy and taking responsibility, we are treated to the full set of our leader’s little pathologies. We learn that he is angry—Zeus is huffing and puffing—as if this is enough to satisfy the public (for many, alas, it is). Then follow the half admissions, the obvious and patent untruths, the blame on the Republicans, and the disheartening Obamacare infomercial. That last one had me thinking that our president looked less presidential than Fred Thompson selling reverse mortgages on late-nite television. Can you imagine George Washington, who worried about “enfeebling the public administration,” hawking an 800 number?

Can you imagine George Washington telling such a patent falsehood as “the website is working well for the vast majority of users”?

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