There can be no question that President Obama is a gifted communicator. Part of the strength of his presentation, however, is saying what will be popular, rather than telling the truth. Obama is not the only one guilty of this “fault.” Most politicians know that it is difficult to deal with a complex issue in a “sound bite.” Therefore, the sound bite must be positive or, at least, take an acceptable shot at the other side. Many politicians take this one step beyond. They realize that few things they say will be explored and they will not be held accountable for misstatements. Can we believe anything that we hear?
Perhaps the most recent example of Obama’s statements intended to mislead relate to the Budget. He would maintain that it is not necessary to make corrections to Medicare and Social Security to balance our Budget and reduce the debt. Further, efforts to address these programs are mean-spirited. His proposal for the Budget is to find areas of waste and fraud in Medicare and eliminate it. These statements are disingenuous but effective for two reasons. First, he has made no real statement of what must be in the Budget to reduce our debt. This is safe. Second, the vast majority of the people polled have said that they do not want to make changes in Medicare and Social Security to deal with fiscal problems. This is not only safe, it panders to those who are opposed to change. Relying on lies and what is referred to as Mediscare is a disservice to the American people
Virtually all those who are familiar with the Budget and what must be done to balance it, have stated without reserve, that Defense, Medicare and Social Security must be addressed. Dealing with cuts in discretionary spending and taxing the “rich” to the point of confiscation are not sufficient to deal with our deficits and debt. To follow the President’s proposals, will do no more than “kick the can down the road” and make the tough decisions tougher later.
Am I saying that you cannot assume the President is telling the truth? No, I am saying that you cannot assume that anyone is telling the truth. You need to look behind statements to see if there is any basis for what they have said.
The truth of the matter is that we are fast moving toward a point of no return. Each year that passes without resolving our deficit and debt problems makes the solutions more difficult to implement and less likely to achieve our goals.
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