One word has become emblematic of the Obama administration's behavior in the debate over health care -- deceit.
It's on stark display in the White House's shifting legal defense of ObamaCare's mandate that individuals have medical insurance. The president himself repeatedly insisted that the penalty for not having coverage was not a tax. But when the original defense that the mandate was permissible under the Commerce Clause fell apart, the penalty that wasn't a "tax" suddenly became a tax, which Congress has broad authority to impose.
And the deceit was on even more shocking display in Mr. Obama's behavior on Monday when he told governors that he'd be flexible in allowing ObamaCare to be implemented on the states' own terms.
But as Politico reports, White House advisers told liberal allies in a conference call before the public announcement "that the rules changes would allow the states to implement single-payer health care plans -- as Vermont seeks to -- and true government-run plans, like Connecticut's Sustinet."
For public consumption, Obama wants to give the impression of devolving the issue to the states, lessening the specter of a Big Government diktat. But behind closed doors, as Politico reports, he's actually pushing for broader, deeper and more "progressive" government control of health care.
The White House needs to stop lying.
