Yes, Obama is Transparent; Transparently Dishonest

Scarcely a week goes by when the president of the United States does not tell several whoppers. He stands before the television cameras and blithely states a series of blatant untruths. He lies and lies, and then he lies some more. The mystery is why the public is not completely scandalized by this performance.
The latest of his falsehoods, of course, concern the cap-and-trade legislation recently passed by Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic poodles. Obama tells us these will create work when they will actually cost us millions of jobs. He further says that the price of this unnecessary social engineering will be modest, whereas it will be excessive. Then he has the audacity to declare that the debate over global warming is over, when it continues to heat up.
Earlier the president assured the nation that he believed in pay-as-you-go policies at the very moment he was proposing trillions in additional unfunded spending. Likewise he insists that he believes in transparency at the same time he urges congress to pass legislation no one has read. No doubt, these latest bills will include the equivalent of his previously “shovel ready” projects.
Conservatives, to be sure, are outraged by this hypocrisy. Having endured a “bipartisanship” that repeatedly excludes them from policy discussions, they realize that this president is not a man of his word. They understand full well that extremist measures are being rushed into law in the hopes that this will avoid close scrutiny.
Liberals, certainly left-leaning liberals, are, in contrast, delighted by what they see. As true believers who agree that only collectivist solutions can save the nation from inequality, they detect no dishonesty. No matter how manifest Obama’s rationalizations, they give them credence. Indeed, they add justifications of their own. No doubt, if the president’s policies exploded in his face, they would hasten to praise the psychedelic colors of the blast.
No, the mystery of why more people are not offended by this festival of deceit is to be found in the middle of the political spectrum. The question is, Why are moderates inclined to allow this cynical demagogy to go unquestioned? Don’t they realize that it violates the premises upon which our democratic institutions are founded?
The answer has several parts. First, moderates won’t allow themselves to recognize the president’s mendacity because they don’t want to see it. Having voted for the man, they are on record as believing his many promises. To suspect him now would be to admit their earlier error; something most people are reluctant to do.
Second, they do not want to give up hope. As The Shawshank Redemption proclaimed “hope is a good thing.” Maybe “the best thing.” Why would they want to renounce it? Much better to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and allow him the time to fulfill his many pledges.
Third, there is the emotional message the president communicates. Just as Bill Clinton convinced many people that he had nothing to be ashamed of in the Lewinsky affair by being publicly shameless, Obama does the equivalent by being relentlessly earnest. In gracefully, and sincerely, espousing his various falsehoods, he conveys the message that they are true. The ease, and indeed the elegance, of his delivery implies that he has nothing to be embarrassed about; hence that he does not fear being caught in a lie.
Lastly, there is the issue of race. Sadly many people agree with Janeane Garafolo that challenging the president’s words is tantamount to racism. They fear that if they are affronted by his mendacity, they will be accused of prejudice. Yet in capitulating to this sort of intimidation, they make it impossible to engage in an honest debate. The logic of honoring the race card is that the president can never be wrong and hence must never be contradicted.
This said; lies are lies. It may seem mean-spirited to point this out, but the truth is the truth. Moreover, only if we as a nation have the courage to stand up for the facts, can we preserve ourselves—and our democracy—from descending into a morass of deceit and failure. It is the truth that will save us, not a polite acquiescence in dishonesty.
Melvyn L. Fein. Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University