Arnold Kling
argues that Obama's health-care rhetoric is misleading, if not outright dishonest. Since the president doesn't have an actual plan to refer to, his promises are not backed by explanations for how it's possible to expand care to the uninsured, force insurers to cover expensive customers, and somehow have this all be "budget neutral."
If you are going to repeatedly refer to "my plan" or "this plan" or "the plan I'm proposing," then unless you have a plan you are lying. The only question is whether it is a little lie or a big one. Obviously, most people think it is only a small lie, or the President would have been called out on it. However, I think that health care policy is an area where there is too much temptation to promise results that are economically impossible to achieve. In that context, my opinion is that giving a speech in favor of a nonexistent plan is a really big lie.
