Media Conservatives Claim Obama "Lied"

Via Media Matters

Summary: Many media conservatives have recently embraced and promoted the accusation, almost in unison, that President Obama has "lied" or broken promises. In many cases, these accusations are based on distortions of comments he has made or misrepresentations of campaign pledges.

In recent weeks, many media conservatives have launched attacks on President Obama, claiming, for instance, that he "lied" and accusing him of having, in the words of The Washington Times, "broken so many promises during the first month-and-a-half of his presidency that it is hard to keep track."

Following his February 24 address to a joint session of Congress, some in the media singled out Obama's comment that he doesn't "believe in bigger government" to accuse him of dishonesty, lying, and even in one case of committing "a huge, brazen, audacious, demonstrably outrageous lie." In fact, in the speech Obama said that, while he does not believe in "big government," a strategy on the scale he is proposing is necessary in the current economic situation.

Moreover, many in the media have falsely claimed that Obama "promised no earmarks" in spending bills during his administration and that he has since broken that pledge. In fact, Obama consistently said during the campaign that he intends to "clean up" the process in an effort to curb spending on earmarks, not eliminate the process entirely.

During his February 24 address to a joint session of Congress, President Obama spoke to the necessity of passing the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to improve the economy and commented that he wanted the stimulus bill passed "not because I believe in bigger government -- I don't -- not because I'm not mindful of the massive debt we've inherited -- I am."

In the days following the speech, media figures have contrasted that comment -- that "I don't" believe in bigger government -- in isolation with the cost of Obama's proposals to say that Obama "lied," that he committed a "the biggest whopper of all" and that his "rhetoric does not match with his policies." But, as is clear from the speech, Obama was taking the position that that failure to act on the scale he is proposing "would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships" and "would have worsened our long-term deficit by assuring weak economic growth for years."