Obama’s promises were a cynical ruse. Instead of transparency, Obama has given us a partisan game of hide the ball. Deliberations on the most sweeping social reform legislation since the Great Society are taking place behind closed doors, cloaked in secrecy, with negotiations among only one political party, all unfolding away from public view in a smoke-filled room. The result is the corruption of the legislative process on a scale rarely seen in American politics: pay-offs, earmarks, special favors, and vote-trading that borders on bribery. What does Obama have to hide? Based on what we know of what the White House traded to get Ben Nelson’s vote, the answer is plenty.
As Pete Wehner points out here, this undermines the very rationale for Obama’s presidency, which was supposed to offer a new style of post-partisan, honest politics. Regardless of what happens on health care reform—and we will continue to fight the good fight in opposing it—-these lies will come back to haunt Obama. America is not Venezuela. We have a right to open, transparent, and honest government, especially when the issue at hand involves our health and the lives of our loved ones. By denying the American people that right, purchased with the precious blood of patriots who surround us like a great cloud of witnesses, Obama will reap a whirlwind at the ballot box in 2010.
