7 Things Obama Promises You Can Totally Keep Besides Your Health Plan

Impact
ByGabriel Grand

For over a month now, I've watched conservative talking heads rail on President Barack Obama for misleading Americans about whether or not they can keep their existing health care plan under Obamacare. As someone who has generally stood by Obama on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), I've been alarmed to find that I just can't back the president up this time.

Why? Because Obama straight up lied, and not just about health insurance.

You see, while relevant to the broader Obamacare discussion, the fact that millions of Americans will now be "forced" to receive better coverage and higher quality care doesn't actually matter in terms of morality. The president's assertion that "if you like your plan, you can keep it" was misinformed at best and quite plainly false (the Washington Post Fact Checker blog gave it a four out of four Pinocchios). It also didn't help that Obama repeated various formulations of that pledge approximately 23 bajillion times since 2008.

Let's get this out of the way: Yes, I'm a liberal. Yes, I support Obamacare. No, I don't like being lied to by the president. Last time I checked, "truth" wasn't a partisan issue.

What troubles me most, though, is that Obama's big "broken promise" about the ACA (see the TIME magazine cover from earlier this month) is just one of several egregious hypocrisies currently being committed by this administration. Over the last five years, Obama has continued Bush-era policies that promote major human rights violations in the name of national security, all the while championing change and progress.

Which brings me to my main point: Obama, if you like your promises, you should keep them.

Here's a friendly reminder, in meme form, of some of the ways the Obama administration is trampling on not just its own promises, but also the guarantees of the U.S. Constitution.

1. The term "shared data plan" now has a whole new meaning.

2. The First Amendment is safer in Russia than it is in the states.

3. We continue to be the only nation of "family values" that doesn't value families.

4. We give not so much liberty but a whole lot of death.

5. What some would call "torture," we call "advanced interrogation techniques." 

6. Because international law is just a series of "guidelines," and who cares about a few civilian casualties anyway?

7. Which is funny, because, as Jay Leno points out, Obama seems to have no trouble honoring his promises to Iran.