Jonah Goldberg‘s latest column at National Review Online probes President Obama’s strained relationship with the concept known as honesty.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that President Obama is not burdened with too heavy a commitment to honesty.
This is hardly a shock about any politician, but revelations of dishonesty hurt some more than others. Announce that Bill Clinton has been speaking falsely, and it hits the ears with as much force as the news that birds fly, fish swim, and dogs lick their own nether regions.
But Obama was supposed to be different. He was a “lightworker,” an ocean tamer, and cynicism slayer. In short, he was supposed to be too good to be true — and it turns out he was.
That’s one obvious conclusion to be drawn from the all-too-delayed vetting of the president’s biography, most notably in David Maraniss’s aptly titled new book, Barack Obama: The Story, but also at news outlets such as National Review Online and Big Journalism.
Obama has been less than honest about many things. Some of his biggest distortions should be the subject of sustained soul searching on the part of the media. For instance, as New York Times reporter Janny Scott first reported over a year ago, Obama lied about his cancer-stricken mother being denied coverage for her preexisting condition. Yes, he was close to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and former terrorist Bill Ayers. Yes, he was a member of the socialist New Party (as my National Review colleague Stanley Kurtz has documented).
