Tuesday, October 08, 2013

How Many Signed Up For Obamacare? "That's The Wrong Question"


Treasury Secretary Jacob "Jack" Lew is being asked again and again how many people signed up for Obamacare last week.

Lew refuses to answer the question.

Chris Wallace at Fox News was one of several asking.

After asking a couple of times, and Lew changing the subject, Wallace said, "How many actually signed up, sir?"

Lew: "You know they have six months to sign up. This is a big decision. We never..."

Wallace: "How many signed up?"

Lew: "I don't have the exact number, but the question isn't how many...the question..."

Wallace: "Do you have any number, because the government has refused to tell us how many?"

Lew: "It's the wrong question. It's the wrong question."

Is there a right question? And if not, why not?

After all, Obamacare is a major shift toward a quasi attempt at socialism, a negative impact on the American economy affecting one-sixth of it, a massive erosion of the world's best medical system and a program that a majority of American people now don't want and can't afford. It is also becoming clear that Obamacare will not deliver anything close to what has been promised.

Shouldn't there be a right question?

Well, there may not be a "right question," but there is a "right answer" to the non-existent question.

Wallace continued to press for some kind of transparency.

Lew gave Wallace the non answer: “Chris, we know that people take time to make important decisions like this. They go online, they compare their options. The fact that so many millions of people rushed to get information is a very good sign.”

Wallace: “The answer is they couldn't."

Lew explained why he couldn't give Wallace a number: “Well, it’s obviously not my primary area of responsibility. So my knowing or not knowing is not -- is not going to be indicative. The important issue -- the important issue here is that millions of Americans want to get affordable health care. They came online, they're getting the information, and you know what they're learning? They're learning they can get affordable health care. They can save money; they can avoid having a situation where they have pre-existing conditions but no health care, where they have children who have no health care. This is a very important development."

“They just can't sign up for it at this point,” Wallace said. “Well, I think they are going to be signing up.” “But technically they can't,” Wallace said, ending the interview.

This is the tale of an ill conceived idea. A promise the President will likely not be able to deliver on.

Just wait till the IRS begins to enforce it.

It reminds me of a statement Abraham Lincoln once made: "We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot."

Could the pending fallout of a catastrophic collapse of Obamacare be the driving force behind these shameless attacks against veterans and American citizens under the guise of "government shut-down?"

The Columbus Dispatch newspaper thinks it is. If a picture paints a thousand words, a more articulate picture has not been painted.

Last week in this column, I mentioned that the World War II Veterans who were required to remove the barricades put up by the government to keep them from visiting their WW II Memorial, were calling them "Barrycades."

An angry park ranger may well have turned the light on when he shared with the Washington Times the directive they had received from the administration.

The Rangers were attempting to close the Mount Vernon home of George Washington to the public---"government shut down."

But there was a problem.

The government doesn't own George Washington's residence.

The Mount Vernon Ladies Association bought the home a number of years ago with private donations. They have restored it and kept it open to the public because of its significance.

Being unable to close the site, an angry park ranger in DC said, "We've been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. Its disgusting."

Maybe the Columbus newspaper has something in the message of their cartoon. The press is certainly compliant with the idea of reporting on the "government shutdown" while ignoring the Obamacare fiasco.

A glance at Lexis Nexis reveals that there were only 13 articles in major newspapers over the weekend about the Obamacare insurance exchanges. Only 6 of those were papers in the U.S.

The term "government shut down" reveals 164 articles in major newspapers with most being in the U.S.

It's even more revealing that none of the "exchange articles" mention the disaster on the website exchanges or question how many signed up.

The news media has instead turned their resources and influence to a more favorable story that features how Republicans and conservatives are shutting down the country and hurting many people.

Which leads to this: Why would the President want to negotiate and perhaps solve this "government shut down crises" when it seems to be serving him so well in giving cover to the nuclear fallout of a collapsing Obamacare?

"I will not negotiate" takes on a new, evolving meaning in this light.

One more thing. Just hours ago, the President told federal employees he'll "keep working with Congress to reach a deal."

Secretary of State John Kerry, former Senator and anti-war activist, once said, "There is no greater breach of the public trust then knowingly misleading the country into war. In a democracy, we simply cannot tolerate the abuse of this trust by the government."

It seems everything about the secular progressive involves perception, manipulation and misinformation.

It also seems to be a structured deception.

And it's all "truth" under the doctrine of relativism.

John F. Kennedy understood the power of the myth. He said in a commencement speech at Yale in 1962, "The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie---deliberate, contrived and dishonest---but the myth---persistent, persuasive and realistic."

Adolf Hitler knew how to use it: "All advertising, whether it lies in the field of business or of politics, will carry success by continuity and regular uniformity of application."

My friend Ed Cole said in one of his books, "Knowledge of God's Word is a bulwark against deception."

We do not have to understand all the nuances of politics to discern Truth from myth. A true believer in Jesus Christ will know the Truth and the Truth will make him free.

Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Informed. Be Prayerful. Be Active. Be Blessed.