Why Obama Should Have Been Lying

What is it with guys named Joe Wilson?

The last time anyone publicly called the president of the United States a liar, it was a guy named Joe Wilson. But that Joe Wilson--a career diplomat with extensive experience in both Iraq and Africa--didn't literally say the president lied.

In an op-ed for the Sunday New York Times on July 6, 2003, he simply presented evidence that undermined President Bush's claim--in his January State of the Union Address--that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium from the African nation of Niger.

Whether or not Bush believed this at the time, or had reason to believe a report that he attributed to "the British Government," his claim was never substantiated and his White House long ago conceded that he never should have made it. (For more on this, see factcheck.org). Consequently, in spite of Dick Cheney's efforts to discredit Wilson personally and in spite of Cheney's highly probable involvement in the "outing" of Wilson's wife Valerie Plame as a CIA agent, it is Wilson's argument--not the president's claim--that has plainly stood the test of time.

Fast forward to the evening of Wednesday, September 9, 2009, when President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress. In response to the president's statement that his new plan for health care insurance would not "insure illegal immigrants," Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted, "You lie!"

Unlike the other Joe Wilson, this one presented not one shred of evidence to support his claim, and as many people quickly noted, the bill itself explicitly forbids any federal payments "on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully in the United States." In other words, this Joe Wilson was himself lying about the bill. But in spite of that, and even though he has been made to apologize for the incivility of his outburst, he and other Republicans remain unhappy that the bill does not do more to stigmatize illegal aliens. Furthermore, Wilson is using the whole episode to dramatize his credentials as a Congressman who dares to challenge the president--and thus to raise money for his re-election.

Evidently he'll need it. His opponent for the next election, Democrat Rob Miller, is already profiting from Wilson's gaffe. Since Wilson's outburst, Miller's campaign has reaped more than $750,000 from 20,000 contributors. But handicappers who rate this whole episode a big win for Obama and his party overlook one simple fact. While Obama wasn't lying about his bill, what he said should have been false.

Consider again what he truthfully said about the bill: it offers nothing to illegal immigrants, which means, of course, nothing for their children either. To get this bill passed, the President of the Democratic Party--the party that cares about ordinary people, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background--has to assure everyone that the bill provides not one penny to treat any child who has the bad luck to have been born from illegal immigrants. If your parents are illegal, says the bill, we don't care how sick you get, or even if you die. The federal government won't spend one cent on you. And this is a Democratic bill championed by a Democratic president?

Nothing else in the bill more clearly shows what a hammerlock the Republican right has placed on the neck of our compassion. If Justice Sonia Sotomayor can be scolded for judging her cases in a spirit of "empathy," compassion--one degree beyond empathy--has become, for the Right, an object of withering scorn.

And, of course, the Right has also raised its ideology to a new level of self-contradiction. While the fetus--a.k.a. the unborn child--deserves all the rights of a person because innocent life must be protected at all costs, the fully born and living child of an illegal immigrant has no rights at all in this nation of immigrants because it is not innocent at all. It's guilty of having been born to the wrong people.

Yes, yes, I know all the arguments for Obama's position. I know that politics is the art of the possible, and that passage of this bill without a ban on benefits for illegals is quite simply impossible. But I cannot let this episode pass without asking that all of us who consider ourselves progressive recognize what we are doing when we score one for the president on this issue. The real winner here is not the president. It's the heartlessness of the xenophobic, hypocritically family-valuing Republican Right.

Comments

[PJay1]

Thank you, Mr. Heffernan.

[Lawrence English]

James, you've used the same tactics as the right to distort the truth by misquoting. Joe Wilson didn't, in fact, lie. The bill does not exclude coverage for illegals, it excludes "affordability credits" meaning the government isn't going to subsidize their premiums. There's nothing in the HRC3200 that prevents illegals from buying coverage. For those of you who refer to free coverage, this is not a free insurance plan - you still have to pay premiums! Now, with unsubsidized premiums, there are very few, if any, illegals that will buy coverage, so they will still go to ERs and get treated on taxpayer money. This bill doesn't change that. As someone else pointed out, that will have to be addressed in immigration reform.Thi­s bill basically maintains the status quo in regard to illegals, the disallowing of subsidies is consistent with existing law regarding Medicare and Medicaid.

[argyle]

I know, isn't it a drag to take care of all these people who need medicine and a doctor for their children?

Funny thing is I've never met an illegal person. How exactly does that work in your world?

[mfelder]

I think we are losing our compassion for other people. Many of us have family members who are perhaps homeless and no matter what incentive are put in place, they may not be able to afford healthcare. With this new exchange, we as a family may be able to purchase health insurance for those family members who are less fortunate than we. Let's take care of our own family members before we start excluding others.

[Rmath]

The "founding fathers" didn't foresee that executives of huge food-industry and agribusiness companies would need to keep costs down by surreptitiously flooding the U.S. with undocumented aliens to pick crops and pluck chickens. And of course, those are the same corporate giants who vote republican and who piously oppose immigration.

Aliens weren't "allowed to come here". They were brought here in droves by mega-companies using the lure of jobs and a better way of life. And, once their presence became known and debated, the same folks who lured them here are playing the "speak no evil" game.

Reality is a b*tch, ain't it?

[jsgaetano]

Yeah I agree. It's really pathetic that Democratic politicians feel like they need to throw poor immigrants under the bus to seek the approval of Republicans.

When Jesus went around curing the sick, was he asking for proof of citizenship, or if they had health insurance?

As usual, conservative ideology preaches the exact opposite of what Jesus would do.

[steppenwolfsayshi]

This bill doesn't need to address immigration reform. An immigration reform bill needs to address immigration reform. Yes, there are a lot of illegal immigrants working in the US that need access to healthcare, but to decide which will be legalized and which will not, is another battle.

I think this is same type of thinking that is the problem with including tort reform. The US has an issue with too many silly lawsuits, which leads companies to act in defensive ways and spend too much money on lawyers. It's not just a healthcare industry problem, so really the healthcare bill is not the best vehicle for a tort reform bill.

One thing at a time.

[wildedge]

The Constitution of the United States:
"Amendment 14
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside."
Any child born on US soil is a US citizen, entitled to all "the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States"
The bill can exclude illegal aliens, but if their children are born here, they can not be excluded, because they are not illegal aliens, they are United States Citizens. And exclusion of any class of citizen from the benefits of citizenship would require an Amendment.
A law excluding American born children of illegal aliens would simply be unConstitutional

[barkrudedog69]

If REFORM passes that does not include coverage of illegal aliens then we will need to put that on a list of things to do when we REFORM the REFORM....

As a Republican American, I feel the best way to improve our society and to strive to be a more responsible and civil people is to properly legislate illegal alien reform including healthcare.

Deportation is not the answer.

Better boarder controls, improved monitoring of those that enter legally and their visas expire, and the most important step for our people....­.to secure a pathway for those here to gain citizenship.

Education and Healthcare should be a part of that path of citizenship not a method of hazing future citizens.


There is a hospital in the Florida Panhandle that has taken the steps to contact the two governments involved for the purpose to deport a paitent. The hospital notified the governments that they would pay for a flight and assist in the deportation of a patient that was mentally disabled from his injuries in a car accident. They found it less expensive to pay $35K for the flight than provide lifetime care for the man since the Government would not pay for part of his care....yo­u know...sin­ce we do not cover illegals. They did this without telling his legal gaurdian and the patient was wisked out of the hospital in the night and flown back to his home country.

[barkrudedog69]

The doctors say that due to his condition he is prone to lung infections and he will di.e without proper medical support. The patient lives with his elderly mother on the side of a mountain in an hut.

The hospital's people said something about how this is not Alice in Wonderland­....as proof that they had no moral responsibility for sending a person to his d.eath.

America has been built on the backs of immigrants (Forced, Legal, and Illegal) and to turn and walk away would be wrong.

We can control our boarders and control our costs with proper legislation, funding, and a sound "boots on the ground" plan that respects our past and works to improve our future.

but that is my Republican point of view.....

[TryToBeFlexible]

I am about as liberal and progressive as they come. But, I have never thought allowing aliens to come here and take American jobs was any benefit to Americans. It just helps the massive profits of the big companies.
Illegal aliens should not be here, period.
I understand that things are tough in their countries in some cases, but that does not mean that our laws should not be enforced.

[peterbeagle]

'shouldn't' but they are in fact here. Do you really believe we should ignore the medical needs of people because they're not here legally? The President said the bill does not allow illegal imigrants to benefit from anything in it.
But of course they will be treated when they're in need, probably in ERs, at a higher cost to us than if they were allowed, say, a public option. This makes no sense. All people will be treated, and we will all pay, and we should.
After all, this country spends trillions to kill people half a world away; we can certainly afford to treat people here at home. What it all boils down to is, fellow humans are more important than money.

[valkyrie607]

As progressives, we should really consider WHY they're here. Lack of environmental and labor regulations in their home country, combined with the extremely business-friendly and worker-hostile "free trade agreements" such as NAFTA which the US has entered into are the prime causes, IMHO. Pointing out that companies here in the US make massive profits off of being able to underpay for work done to produce their products, while also driving down wages in the US doesn't quite take in the scope of the problem.

[PlaceboStudman]

illegals aren't the only ones being screwed over by this bill. So are the critically ill, terminally ill, and disabled. Not a word has been spoken about actual improvements in medicine, technology, or improving and speeding research for the fully legal American citizens who happen to have been born with something that isn't related to lifestyle choices like obesity.

We spend millions or tens of millions of dollars a year promoting proper diet, exercise and general lifestyle choicess, meanwhile, not a single word has been said by anyone other than me about people like Michael J Fox (who has Parkinson's), Montel Wiliams (who has MS), Stephen Hawking (who has ALS) or Christopher Reeve, who died of septicemia as an all too common consequence of the paralysis he suffered from a broken neck from being thrown from a horse.

When will THEY be taken care of?

[igotnews4u]

On Presidents' day 02/18/02, I had given birth to premature baby. Due to medical several errors, I was transported to ICU after undergoing several unnecessary surgeries, leaving my baby at the hospital's nursery without enen having the chance to see or touch him. 3 days later while still in ICU, a Social Worker came to me and told me that he had come to place my newborn baby in Foster Care. I had to beg and plea for my own child. I was forced to dischare him from the nursery, and get out of ICU in 2 days or my baby would be placed in State's custody. My baby was deprived of milk and diapers, and I was assaulted in that hospital. This happened because my baby had no insurance. My baby and I were both U.S. born. The hospital was Catholic.

[dadw5boys]

Hope you got a good lawyer.

[brooklyncitizen]

THis is a good point....b­ut where does one draw the line? won't it encourage people to come here and give birth as they are already doing? we are all sinking and that's the truth...no it's a matter of who gets put on the first lifeboats.

It was politically expedient for this POTUS to say that...and of course there is the old how do we pay for it question.

[Tahut]

Now here's the multi-million dollar question I have for conservatives.

"While the fetus--a.k­.a. the unborn child--deserves all the rights of a person because innocent life must be protected at all costs..."

It sounds to me like youre using legislation to protect an illegal alien not yet born, yet once born you're rejecting any ownership. If a fetus deserves the protection by the government to their right to life, then shouldn't newborn deserve the right to medical care from that same government? After all it was the government that insisted the fetus not be aborted. In short, one has to take responsibility for the political positions you take.

[balmora]

The only point I care to make is that there is an obvious distinction between the "right to life" and the "right to have all your medical bills paid for by the tax payer".

[valkyrie607]

What exactly is the distinction?

If a person shows up in extreme distress at the ER, say perhaps a pregnant woman who needs medical or else she and/or her baby will die, and she is denied care because she can't pay, and taxpayers like you refuse to pay--

--what EXACTLY is the distinction?

[PlaceboStudman]

There is no such thing as a right to life in this world. There is, however, the right to get rich. Otherwise we would be talking about how to save lives through medical improvements, not save money with insurance reform

[dadw5boys]

Unfunded mandates ? Yeah Republicans are good at that.

[take10]

In 2003, Addison (Joe) Wilson voted to allow medical care for illegal immigrants in support of GB Bush. Why hasn't that truth made it's way into the discussion? This man was given the task of turning the President's address into a town... hall fiasco. If you noticed, there were others who had signs and many who had papers, denoting God knows what, to be waved in the air once it blossomed into what they intended. People are so gullible! The republicans are at their most desperate time and they have become disrespectful of the constitution and the Presidency. These aren't patriots! They are self-serving Dixiecrats who believe that they are supposed to be in control of the country and are willing to destroy it if not. Their religion is the same today as it was when it allowed them to carryout the most heinous crimes known to mankind. They lynched Black women who were expecting babies, old and young, men and boys. If that wasn't bad enough, they burned them to a crisp to further ingratiate themselves. This, people, is the reality of what they portend under their takeover of this country. Time and time again, they scream, " we need to go back to how things were in the late 1800s." Yes, this is their legacy and they are hoping the majority of Americans will allow it to be commonplace again. May God Bless America! Hopefully, not their God!

[take10]

In 2003, Addison (Joe) Wilson voted to allow medical care for illegal immigrants in support of GB Bush. Why hasn't that truth made it's way into the discussion? This man was given the task of turning the President's address into a town hall fiasco. If you noticed, there were others who had signs and many who had papers, denoting God knows what, to be waved in the air once it blossomed into what they intended. People are so gullible! The republicans are at their most desperate time and they have become disrespectful of the constitution and the Presidency. These aren't patriots! They are self-serving Dixiecrats who believe that they are supposed to be in control of the country and are willing to destroy it if not. Their religion is the same today as it was when it allowed them to carryout the most heinous crimes known to mankind. They lynched Black women who were expecting babies, old and young, men and boys. If that wasn't bad enough, they burned them to a crisp to further ingratiate themselves. This, people, is the reality of what they portend under their takeover of this country. Time and time again, they scream, " we need to go back to how things were in the late 1800s." Yes, this is their legacy and they are hoping the majority of Americans will allow it to be commonplace again.