Is Obama Lying or Ignorant?

Listening to President Obama’s statements about the NSA and spying on Americans over the past few weeks, I began wondering if he was outright lying to us, or if he was woefully ignorant of the subjects of which he spoke.

I’m not alone. Others are beginning to wonder if the President lied to us or was so far out of the loop that he had no idea what is going on.   Some of the statements in question:

– the secret FISA court is “transparent” and that Congress has full oversight
– “We don’t have a domestic spying program.”
– “No one is listening to your phone calls.”

He has discussed the NSA at press conferences and in interviews and holds to these statements despite reporting to the contrary. Does he not read the news?  

Obama is a smart person, so it is hard to believe that ignorance is the reason for the words he’s chosen.

Take the “no one is listening to your phone calls” statement. Why make such a definitive statement when it is not true? Why not say “I’ve read these stories and will look into it,” or “Yes, we listen to some calls,” or even “I’m not at liberty to discuss this. It is confidential.”

But he didn’t. He said “no one is listening to your calls,” and that turns out to be untrue. Very untrue, if there is such a thing. Did he lie, or is he uninformed?

I get the sense that he, like Clapper and Alexander, is lying. I think he thinks his wordsmithing is clever and he can say these things without later reprocussion.

Whichever it is, he’s sticking to his story

Maybe some in Congress can investigate this matter further.

Comments | 9

  • Interesting, Chris -- the

    Interesting, Chris — the YouTube video on one of the sites you link to, where Greenwald supposedly describes the phone/internet surveillance programs, has been taken down.

  • I echo the sentiment that

    I echo the sentiment that Obama is such an intelligent person, it is difficult to believe that he is at the same time ignorant. On the other hand, I’m not in the least surprised about anything he’s done in office. Tired of watching otherwise intelligent, informed people engage in the two party illusion. Time to wake up.

  • Quote By Mazin Qumsiyeh

    Stating The Obvious – Facing The Facts Politicians Lie By Mazin Qumsiyeh August 18, 2013 “Information Clearing House

    – There is no way to say this truth nicely: Politicians lie. That includes Japanese, American, Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian politicians! Is there something more common sense than that? Yet, so many citizens around the world believe their own politicians or wistfully acknowledge lies but think it is part of the job needed to run things. They believe even when politicians contradict themselves blatantly. This phenomenon is rather remarkable. It is a dissonance and disconnect from reality that many seem oblivious to. It is very dangerous because it can lead to accepting rationales for going to war. These can be deadly wars that lead to millions of lives lost as happened in what was called World War 1 and WW2. Even when incredible and declassified evidence abound, politicians continue to lie and old mythologies refuse to die

  • Investigation of Obama

    Perhaps we could get Daryl Issa to do it.

  • Weighing Hobson's Choices

    Which of the two presented scenarios is worse?

    If Obama is lying, it’s such a breach of trust, a betrayal of promise, a failing of high ideals and soaring rhetoric, as to signify a collapse of character, and an extreme subterfuge of noble aims.

    If, on the other hand Obama is merely an appendage to a vast labyrinthine machine, not privy to inner workings, forever playing catch-up, or cover-up, with partial information, then indeed the Republic is in deep dirt, maybe even unfixable death spiral.

    Maybe it’s a bit of both. Giving Obama and his inspiring persona the benefit of the doubt, politics being such a harsh master, men being merely mortal after-all, I’ll settle on…it’s a shame either way.

    If you’re a progressive, and an eternally hopeful type (as I no longer am) Obama’s legacy can still be redeemed: Pardon Manning and Snowden, kill XL, give back the Nobel prize. If you are a pragmatic sort (as it seems I increasingly am) there is much to lament, much too much that has gone astray.

  • Doesn't Want to Be Like Pete

    NSA surveillance of Americans is something Senator Obama spoke out against very forcefully back in 2005.
    The President and his staff must have considered the issue back in 2007 & 8 when he was running. How were they going to handle it?
    Being President is a whole different matter from being a Senator. As a Senator you are tasked with overseeing the President and the government, and speaking out against programs you disagree with is part of the job. When you become president, all that changes. Now you preside over the government you have or inherit, not the one you wish you had (to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld). You may try to change or curb programs you disagree with, but they are “yours” none-the-less.

    Plenty of us know that what the President says is not true, but he has his reasons – undoubtedly political ones – even if we don’t like them.

    My guess is that there are similarities here to the case of Pete Rose.
    Rose was a great baseball player, one of the best of all time, no question. His problem came after his playing days were over.
    He was caught by the government, gambling on baseball while also holding the job as a manager of the Cincinnati Reds. For years he categorically denied the charges and many of his ardent fans lined up behind him, despite overwhelmingly evidence. Objectively, there was no way you could believe Rose, but a fan will find faith and cling to hope. Some Obama supporters are no doubt clinging to Obama’s every word and believing them as well.
    Rose finally listened to those who said, “Americans are a forgiving people, just come clean and you’ll allowed back into baseball’s good graces.” He wrote a book and confessed to the crime.
    Instead of forgiving him, his fans disappeared. They melted away and Rose was left with no one to take up his cause and he has largely disappeared as well.

    Obama and every politician knows the lesson of Pete Rose. Lying is bad, but telling the truth can be worse.

    • national pastimes

      Nice comparison, you might be onto something.

      My only thought is that at bottom, people shy’d from Rose because he was a sonoabitch, and in other ways an off-putting character. Ty Cobb comes to mind here, he and Pete had to be-spikes up- abrasive to rack up that >4000 hit total.

      Is Obama like Rose, or maybe more like Ichiro? The only other member of the 4000 club. A constantly likable smooth and classy player.

      Any way you slice it we’re in “Say it ain’t so Joe” territory.

  • The drumbeat continues

    Another column with similar sentiments from Jeff Jarvis. It begins…

    What are you thinking, Mr President?

    Is this really the legacy you want for yourself: the chief executive who trampled rights, destroyed privacy, heightened secrecy, ruined trust, and worst of all, did not defend but instead detoured around so many of the fundamental principles on which this country is founded?

    He goes on to say that he is Democrat that voted for him, but now finds him to be ” imperial, secretive, vindictive, untrustworthy, inexplicable.”

    • Inexplicable?

      My explanation is that he “sold his soul” back in Occidental College, and the rest is history.
      Whether or not that’s exactly true, he’s not the man he pretended to be when he ran on “Hope and Change”.

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