Mr. President, YOU are the one being called out

Presidents have called emergency addresses to Congress for national crises, largely limited to big issues like war. Last night President Obama addressed both members of Congress on what he considers an emergency: health care. He and the Democratic leadership have come under fire lately for insisting on a government takeover of 17 percent of the American economy. This was his 112th speech given on health care reform, one that was expected to be a slam-dunk speech that would clarify the controversies and relieve the doubts the American people have grown in the past few months (currently, 52% oppose Obamacare).

I watched him last night with honest curiosity. Sure, I’m against ObamaCare, but perhaps, I thought, I would gain some insight into the democratic proposal. Instead, I was enraged. Barack Obama turned on the offensive, stating he would “call out” those in opposition to his health care plan for their lies in three areas:

1. Creation of death panels
2. Funding of abortion
3. Medical care to illegal aliens

Mr. President, let’s be “called out,” specifically on these three claims. Here goes…

1. Creation of death panels

This was a direct counterattack to Sarah Palin’s coined term “death panels” from her Facebook comment a month ago. Nowhere in Obamacare are there things called “death panels,” but does this make Sarah’s claim a “lie”? Hardly. HR 3200 specifically mandates end-of-life counseling for terminally ill patients as a money-saving procedure. President Obama explained how “perhaps taking the pain killer” would be better for an elderly patient. The following You Tube video of the president himself:

Now, which sounds more like the truth? Sarah Palin’s Facebook term “death panels” or Barack Obama’s explanation how government will decide end-of-life issues? The President can call this end-of-life “counseling,” I suppose, but I would hardly call Sarah’s word choice a “flat out lie” as he did last night. In fact, her word choice struck a chord with the American people; it is a fair analysis of the President’s own explanation of his bill.

2. Funding of abortion

Abortion on demand is the Democratic party’s pillar issue, so it is extremely difficult to believe it’s now off their radar. For Obama to claim that he would protect “federal conscious laws” smells fishy. FactCheck.org sets the record straight in a full article, “Abortion: Which Side Is Fabricating?” Its subtitle says it all, “Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans.”

Now, FactCheck.org is a non-partisan group, hardly a right-leaning group. The article addresses reasonable claims that abortion is covered in HR 3200. Responding to NRLC’s director Douglas Johnson’s claim that the government plan is to cover all elective abortions, FactCheck.org admits, “Our analysis shows that Johnson’s statement is correct. Though we of course take no position on whether the legislation should allow or not allow coverage for abortions, the House bill does just that.”

The declaration of a lie does not make it a lie. President Obama is wrong, flat-out wrong. Coverage for abortions–all abortions–is in HR 3200.

3. Coverage for illegal immigrants

There is a provision in HR 3200 that exempts illegal immigrants from federal health care option, and prior claims that illegals are directly covered in the plan are false. But no one is currently making this claim. The problem people have is that HR 3200 has no mechanism that requires validation of citizenship, thus making it very plausible for illegal immigrants to apply and receive health care. This already happens in many state health care systems that did not put an enforcement mechanism in place. Just like emergency rooms are required by law to treat anyone who comes in — insured or uninsured, legal or illegal — HR 3200 could reasonably be held to the same standard. The 1,017 page document doesn’t seal this loophole up, and amendments proposed to do so have been purposely kept out of the bill.

Cause for concern? Yeah, I’d say so, and according to a recent Rasmussen poll, an overwhelming number of Americans think so, too. The President is attempting to marginalize this concern by claiming, “That’s a lie, plain and simple.” This just doesn’t cut it.

It is NOT plain and simple. These aren’t “lies,” and claiming them to be so are insults to our intelligence, to our concerns. President Obama’s “calling out” those people and calling them liars is backwards. The democrats who are pushing HR 3200 should be “called out” to explain themselves, not vice versa. The status quo has presumption: US medical care is the envy of the world, produces the best medical treatment in the history of man. Handing over that system to the government is a pretty big sell, one that is in the President’s court.

Last night the President was tasked to make his 112th speech on health care, to answer unanswered questions, to reveal his plan — again — with the suave that got him elected. He instead attacked his adversaries, presumably the Republicans to his left. Frankly, I wish the Republicans were truly an opposition party, but last night they were standing and applauding much more than opposing. No, Obama was not attacking Republicans; he was attacking concerned citizens and the American people, 52% of who now strongly oppose ObamaCare — nearly twice that number since the bill was released to the public. They are rightly “calling out” the President to justify, to explain, and to deliver the truth.

He didn’t do that last night. The more people read for themselves what is in the bill, the more skeptical they become…in the bill and its advocates.