Obama Politics: When Denial Just Isn’t Enough

You can always tell when a politician steps in it. You know, messes up. He gives it away by how he answers questions about whatever it is. Iffy situations that would otherwise fade into distant memory become hot items because politicians just can’t resist making them worse. Usually much worse through the old reliables, denial and cover up. Those bad boys scream volumes about people who are willing to cozy up to them, and none of it is good.

Like too many other politicians, Obama uses the denial tool when he wants to wriggle out of something he shouldn’t have done. For instance, when he negotiated in private with the drug and insurance companies last summer over their slice of the Obamacare pie. He stonewalled about who was there and the horse-trading that went on. To this day, he refuses to disclose that information despite legal action filed by a public interest group to force him to come clean. The denial part? That anything improper happened. And he expects us to trust him on that.

He did the same thing with the Sestak inducement to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. Obama’s candidate was Arlen Specter. One of Specter’s conditions for switching parties in 2009 was that Obama would clear the way for his victory in the 2010 primary. But Sestak was an obstacle.

So, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, through Bill Clinton, offered Sestak an enticement of some sort in exchange for his handing the race to Specter. The lure remains unknown, although Obama’s people tried to say it was an unpaid advisory position. But, they later recanted that one when it turned out Sestak was not eligible for the gig they concocted on the spur of the moment. Regardless, Obama denies doing anything wrong and expects us to trust him on that.

Then there’s Andrew Romanoff, a rising star in Colorado politics. He was asked to step aside, giving Obama’s candidate in that Senate primary a free pass. The reward for dropping out of the race was a job offer, which Romanoff, like Sestak, declined. Obama’s response was SOP denial, and, surprise, he expects us to trust him on that.

But, with the Senate candidates, the denial thing was wearing thin. Unlike the healthcare meetings, Sestak and Romanoff were identified and both were talking some about what went on. So, last week, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs trotted out a couple of reasons for trying to get them out of the primaries. One, Obama wanted to spare them all the wear and tear of rigorous campaigning. You know, the type of thing Obama suffered through for the 2008 nomination.  Two, Obama has the right to narrow the field of voter choices because he knows what’s best.

Wow. So, Obama wants no debate on the issues, which denies voters true insight into the candidates. But, on the bright side, we don’t have to worry our pretty, ignorant heads because he’ll make our choices for us. Old fashioned denial is looking better and better.

See you on the left-side.