A History Lesson for President Obama
The President will be speaking in Osawatomie, Kansas, tomorrow, and the White House claimed the President chose the location to commemorate a speech by Theodore Roosevelt at the same spot just over a century ago. Unfortunately for the current President, however, observers have noted that President Roosevelt’s 1910 address in Osawatomie included the following lines:
A broken promise is bad enough in private life. It is worse in the field of politics. No man is worth his salt in public life who makes on the stump a pledge which he does not keep after election; and, if he makes such a pledge and does not keep it, hunt him out of public life.
It is with those comments by Teddy Roosevelt in mind that we deliver the following reminders about this President’s recent history of breaking his campaign pledges on health care:
Promise Made, Promise Broken – “If You Like Your Plan, You Can Keep It:” The Obama campaign platform promised that “you will not have to change plans. For those who have insurance now, nothing will change under the Obama plan – except that you will pay less.” But the Administration’s own estimates revealed that Obamacare’s onerous regulations will force most firms – and up to 80 percent of small businesses – to give up their current plans, thus subjecting them to costly new mandates that will increase premiums. Millions more seniors will lose access to the Medicare Advantage plans they have and like.
Promise Made, Promise Broken – Cut Premiums by $2,500 per Family: Candidate Obama promised to cut insurance premiums by an average of $2,500 per family, but in reality the legislation he signed into law will result in massive premium increases. The Congressional Budget Office projects that individual health insurance premiums will increase by $2,100 per family as a result of Obamacare.
Promise Made, Promise Broken – No New Taxes on the Middle Class: After giving the squeezed middle class a “firm pledge” during his campaign that he would not raise “any of your taxes,” President Obama’s health care law broke that promise no fewer than 12 separate times. These massive revenue increases will have a devastating effect over the coming years; destructive taxes on job creators will harm an economy struggling to grow.
Promise Made, Promise Broken – Federal Spending on Obamacare: Candidate Obama promised his health care plan would cost “$50-65 billion a year when fully phased in.” However, the Congressional Budget Office now projects that the REAL cost of the coverage expansions will be $229 billion in 2020 and $245 billion in 2021 – four times the levels of spending candidate Obama promised.
Promise Made, Promise Broken – Containing Health Care Costs: In June 2009, President Obama claimed that any health care legislation must control costs: “If any bill arrives from Congress that is not controlling costs, that’s not a bill I can support. It’s going to have to control costs.” However, according to the Medicare actuary, national health spending will go up by $310,800,000,000, thanks to Obamacare.
Promise Made, Promise Broken – Taxing Health Benefits: Candidate Obama promised not to “tax health benefits,” and derided his opponent’s proposals to do so. But Obamacare FORCES people to buy insurance, so the federal government can tax it at a whopping 40 percent rate.
Promise Made, Promise Broken – Individual Mandate: In 2008, candidate Obama claimed that penalizing people for not buying health insurance was like “solv[ing] homelessness by mandating everyone buy a house.” Yet Obamacare created an unprecedented – and constitutionally dubious – federal requirement for all citizens to purchase a product merely because they exist.
Promise Made, Promise Broken – Health Care Negotiations on C-SPAN: Candidate Obama promised to televise all health care negotiations on C-SPAN, but the process leading up to Obamacare was plagued with notorious backroom deals. Worse yet, Obama adviser David Axelrod received a multimillion dollar severance package indirectly paid for by the pharmaceutical industry, as part of its “rock-solid deal” with Democrats in Congress and the Administration. This broken promise is particularly worth noting given Roosevelt’s comments in his 1910 speech regarding “the sinister influence or control of special interests,” which “too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit.”
Given all these empty promises on health care – not least the broken promise that the “stimulus” would keep unemployment below 8 percent – it’s worth asking exactly why President Obama wants to channel Teddy Roosevelt, seeing as how the latter likely would have been a touch unforgiving when it comes to all the current President’s broken pledges.