Obama Lie: "Healthcare Negotiations will be on CSPAN"

Barack Obama is on the record as saying that healthcare negotiations will be televised on CSPAN over and over again. To quote one such statement:

"That's what I will do in bringing all parties together, not negotiating behind closed doors, but bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are,"​

Well, CSPAN has approached congress and asked that it be allowed to televise the conference committee negotiations on healthcare as Obama promised. To quote the letter he sent:

"President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation's editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation's health care system," he wrote. "Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American." ​

But thus far it has been denied access. So instead, we get special interests operating "behind closed doors" in direct contradiction to Obama's repeated vow. Watch the video below:

8 Seperate clips of Obama saying Healthcare Negotiations will be on CSPAN

The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open "all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings," to televised coverage on his network.

"The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety," he wrote.

In a Tuesday afternoon press conference on health legislation negotiations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to object to the premise behind the request.

"There has never been a more open process for any legislation in anyone who’s served here’s experience," she said.

However, Republican leaders sided with C-SPAN's calls for transparency.

"As House Republican leader, I can confidently state that all House Republicans strongly endorse your proposal and stand ready to work with you to make it a reality," Minority Leader John Boehner wrote in response to the letter. "Hard-working families won't stand for having the future of their health care decided behind closed doors. These secret deliberations are a breeding ground for more of the kickbacks, shady deals and special-interest provisions that have become business as usual in Washington."

Democratic leaders could bypass the traditional conference committee process, in which lawmakers from both parties and chambers meet to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. Top Democrats in the House, Senate and White House were meeting Tuesday evening to figure out the final product in three-way talks before sending it back to both chambers for a final vote. ​

Read the whole article
I assume Obama's defenders will say this is not just his choice. But surely he could exert some influece to make it happen if he so choose. The question is, will he?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

N. Pelosi responded by cracking the whip.

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0110/Pelosi_takes_swipe_at_Obama_campaign_promises.html

I guess the next few days we will see who wears the pants in dem party.

The worst part is very few people actually believe what he says anymore. What happened to transparency, no earmarks, actually sitting down and (I am paraphrasing) "...read the bills, line for line, so the American people know what their getting."?

One could go on and on for quite a while, displaying his laundry list of lies, but unfortunately there are those that will follow Obama right off the cliff and then they will say its all Bush's fault.

Who was that rude rep congressmen that shouted "you lie!" a few months back?

I think he was right.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

I think Obama was a little naieve. He might have thought everyone in congress would act in good faith to fix our system, but Republicans and some independents have been as obstructionist at they could possibly be.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Or maybe arrogant?

Maybe if Obama had kept his word on a few promise, the obstructionists wouldn't have had so much success. Its called leadership.

 

If we want true transparency, congress should wear little patches on their clothing detailing their corporate sponsorship.

 

Well the fact is he did keep his word on many things, even most things. However, I have to agree that his statement on openness was a little naive. Washington likes living in the dark.

 

Good idea.

 

That's all true, but this isn't about the Republicans. It's about the Democrats. And they are acting like people who would put a yahoo like Pelosi in charge.

 

so it will be like NASCAR?

 

Exactly

 

Forget the enormous stretch your trying to make here, since when is most things an acceptable standard?

 

His term is hardly over yet, is it?

 

No, but it has been an unprecedented fall. I wouldn't hedge my bets on what he says.

 

A little harsh to call it a "lie" rather than an unfulfilled promise. He promised that Congress was going to do something, and he has no real power to enforce that. It would only really be deceptive if he never had any intention of it happening, and what was in his heart will forever be his secret.

If we are going to call this a lie, then we can clearly call Bush a liar for either his "dead or alive" comment, or for his assertion that Iraq had WMDs. Mistakes are not lies though, especially not mistakes about what will happen in the future, and even more especially what other people will do or allow in the future.

 

Did you understand the nature of the letter sent to Obama from C_SPAN?

 

He hasn't fallen yet, and you know the Republicans have been saying that since the first 100 days. I don't know what you guys are whining about, most of the negotiations have been on c-span. To cover all the dealings, you would need a camera on each congressperson 24 hours a day.

 

I was thinking about what the polls have shown regarding the fall of his approval ratings. However, I have heard what the reps have said too.

Then whats the purpose of the letter?

 

You're right, Obama is naive; those damn democratic obstructionists and their uncivilized regressive ways. It's good that independents are acting in good faith to oppose the stupidity.

 

Has Obama taken any action to try to fulfill his promise? It's not like this was an off the cuff remark, he said it over and over. If he really intended to follow thru on his vow, he'd make some public comments about congress not doing as he asked and shame them into compliance. But, so far, I haven't heard jack out of him about this.

The difference is that Bush took some action to catch BinLaden and was simply mistaken on WMDs, whereas (as far as I know) Obama hasn't done Jack shit to fulfill his vow. Making a promise and then not even trying to fulfill it is lying.

Now if he has done something I don't know about or he does soon, I'll agree with you and not consider it a lie.

But I think that he knows that his margin on getting this bill passed is razor thin and he doesn't want to do anything that would rock the boat (you know, like letting the public see the sausage factory in action) and jeopardize its chance of passage. So vows be damned! We've got a healthcare "reform" to pass!

 

Another lie from Obama, he made major political hay pillorying McCain for his plan to tax insurance benefits, and now......
Obama OK's taxing high end health plans

PS I looked all over for a copy of the ad Obama/Biden ran on this issue, but every copy I could find said "the video you're requesting is no longer available". If anyone has a link to a copy of that ad, please post it.