The voting public currently gives Barack Obama a failing score on “performing his role as President.”
Rasmussen daily poll (e.g., March 25, 2010) continues to show a majority of voters strongly disapprove of the way Barack Obama is "performing his role as President." 42% Strongly Disapprove, 32% Strongly Approve, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10.
Obama's political ratings may not just be a barometer for Obama's job approval. I believe the ratings also reflect what percentage of the voter population view outright lying by an American President as acceptable or unacceptable. My take? Acceptable to lie, 32% , Unacceptable to lie, 42%.
If I am correct, then the frightening conclusion from the results of the Rasmussen poll is that 32% of American voters strongly approve of a President who is a conclusively demonstrated serial liar.
I believe, there are at least three logical categories that potentially fit the 32% of voters who “Strongly Approve.” All three are disturbing.
Here's my take.
Category 1. Some of the 32% are simply unaware of the multiple well-documented lies told by Barack Obama.
This is certainly possible due to the lack of coverage given the matter by the major media. If a person gets all their news from left-leaning sources such as CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, The New York Time, The Washington Post, etc., then it is entirely possible to be blissfully unaware of the extent of Obama's lying. There are also undoubtedly some people who have no interest and spend no time understanding current political events from any source.
Conclusion 1. Without knowledge of pertinent facts, lies go unrecognized and unchallenged. This is how the perfidy of the national leftist media continues to undermine our Constitutional liberties.
Category 2. Some of the 32% are without doubt completely aware of the well-documented lies and are completely supportive of any lying that they calculate will personally benefit them or will support their political ideology.
Conclusion 2. For some people, lying is a lifestyle, a part of their nature. This is the type of person that Jesus referred to when he used the term liar to describe a group of Pharisees who were in the process of accusing him (Jesus) of being demon possessed (John 8:48):
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ”
– Jesus, John 8:44 [NASB]
Category 3. Some of the 32% are aware of the well-documented lies but justify (rationalize) them with arguments such as, all politicians lie, other Presidents have lied, Bush lied; it's OK, it's all just political rhetoric.
This approach, in general, is common in our value-challenged culture. “Everybody does it” coupled with, “I like Obama and he's going to make life easier for me,” or “I support Obama's ideology.”
Conclusion 3. Lying to yourself (extreme rationalizing) is perhaps the most insidious form of lying. It is essentially a form of doublethink (described in George Orwell's 1984): “The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient...”
The primary reason a person rationalizes is because some act or event is at odds (blatantly or subtly) with some already held value or belief. In this sense, rationalizing can be a way to lie to yourself, and in it's most advanced form it becomes doublethink.
Two of the most blatant and important on-going series of lies told by Barack Obama have been exceptionally well documented: The C-Span lie, and the no-tax-increase lie.
The C-Span lie
On eight different occasions, Obama has been captured on video forcefully and clearly articulating what has now been appropriately labeled (on BREITBART TV), "The C-Span lie."
“[January 06, 2010] Did Barack Obama lie about broadcasting healthcare negotiations on C-SPAN? Well the video below says he did. In his own words, at least eight times on the campaign trail Obama promised that healthcare negotiations would be open and honest, broadcast on C-SPAN. Now that he’s president, and healthcare reform isn’t as popular as he thought it would be, Obama is refusing to allow open and honest negotiations to take place on C-SPAN for the public to see.”
– Reference (1) at bottom.
The no-tax-increase lie
Contents of the new Health Care law have provided indisputable affirmation of the Obama no-tax-increase lie. So far, twelve taxes in the new Health Care law have been identified that violate Obama's pledge.
[March 25, 2010] As many as a dozen taxes in the new health care law violate President Barack Obama’s campaign pledge not to raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 and on individuals earning less than $200,000.
At least seven of these taxes directly affect health consumers regardless of income, such as the individual mandate to buy insurance, the employer mandate, the tanning tax, and limits and penalties on health savings accounts. In addition, Republicans argue that the tax impact of the law should include indirect taxes, such as the annual taxes on the health care sector that will be passed on to consumers.
On many occasions during the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama pledged that, if elected, he would ensure that Americans earning less than $250,000 a year would not see a federal tax increase of any kind.
“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increases,” the Illinois senator told a crowd in Dover, N.H. on Sept. 12, 2008. “Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”
– Reference (2) at bottom.
Whenever Obama says, “I promise...”, or “I pledge...”, you should immediately assume he is lying. He has already established an undeniable record of doing exactly that on multiple occasions.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) Obama Lies About Broadcasting Healthcare Negotiations On C-SPAN? (Video)
(2) 12 Taxes in Health Care Law Violate Obama’s Pledge Not to Increase Taxes...
