In his speech on Friday, Barack Obama not only insulted entrepreneurs and business owners, but he also slipped up on his mandate propaganda. While Obama has constantly referred to the mandate as a penalty and not a tax, all of the pressing him on what the Supreme Court has called it must be weighing on him. In the midst of his speech he referred to the individual mandate as a tax.
“By the way, if you’ve got health insurance, you’re not getting hit by a tax,” Obama said. “The only thing that’s happening to you is that you now have more security because insurance companies can’t drop you when you get sick.”
Notice what is implied in the statement. He claims that if you have health insurance you aren’t getting hit by a tax. Well now, then if you don’t have health insurance, doesn’t it then follow that you are getting hit by a tax? I think so. This is also the Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue as well and what Obama’s own attorneys argued in their brief before the Supreme Court.
All of Obama’s administration and leading Democrats have constantly referred to the mandate as a penalty including Jay Carney and Nancy Pelosi.
It will definitely be something to watch Carney twist, wiggle and writhe in his press briefing today. Just a tip for Carney: Lay off the Scotch till after the meeting. You are going to need every faculty to manipulate language to deal with this one, or you could just blame it on the rain that day.
