Obama's State of the Union: Buy one lie get five free.

One of the things president Obama is actually good at, or let's say succeeds at, is saying things in such a way as to pull the wool over the eyes of people who can't or won't think for themselves. That usually means journalists and people who read so called "progressive" web sites. And that was on display during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

One of the more preposterous lies was that as a result of his healthcare reform law "ten million people now have health insurance who didn't have it before". There could be no more blatant,  intentional lie about  his healthcare reform law than this. It's his way of  continuing to try to continue cover up  his selling out the public healthcare option, the only real meaningful healthcare reform which Democrats had the votes to pass, to the health  insurance companies.

Unfortunately almost everything else in Obama's State of the Union speech that he touted as a success the previous year was a lie. But none more blatant than on healthcare reform, or as it is affectionately known,Obamacare or The Unaffordable Care Act. 

First, he lied about 10 million. That number is based on the White House claim that 7 million enrolled last year and 3 million this year adding up to 10 million. That is the kind of accounting that has sent shady accountants and CFO's to prison.

Of the 7 million applications claimed last year that Obama tries to claim as enrollments,  20% never sent in their first months premium which invalidated their applications. That lowers the number to 5.6 million. According to the health insurance companies about 5% were multiple applications, the result of web site glitches or perceived glitches where people thought their application didn't go through and filled out another one. That brings the number down to about 5.4 million. And the IRS has said a substantial number of applications claimed incomes lower than that filed with their tax returns in order to qualify for subsidies for which they werent entitled which invalidated those applications and the subsidies that went with them. That could bring the total  for last year down to 5 million or even less.  Of the 3 million more Obama is claiming this year,  more than 90% are renewals of policies bought last year not new enrollments.

A more honest figure of the number who purchased polices  since Obamacare was implemented is about 6 million not ten.

The bigger lie is when Obama said "ten million people now have health insurance who didn't have it before". Not only is the number of people buying polices not ten million but closer to 6, but according to the Gallup Well Being Index more than 97% of those who purchased policies through the exchanges already had health insurance before Obamacare  even existed and went shopping for a better deal.

Of the 50 million Americans who were uninsured , those who didn't have health insurance before Obamacare, only 2.2% bought polices. The remaining 97.8% rejected the lower tier policies offered through Obamacare, policies even the White House admitted last year to the New York Times were substandard. Most who did buy those lower end silver or bronze policies reported horror stories about the insurance not being accepted at most hospitals and with most doctors , deductibles as high as $6,000 and high co-pays. 

Obama's other sleight of hand on healthcare reform was when he touted 

" the number of people now without health insurance is the lowest since 2008".

Think about that. The lowest number of uninsured since 2008. This is proof of Obamacare's failure and Democrats and the mass media still doesn't get it.

Translation: 

After all the political bloodletting and everything else associated with healthcare reform and  Obamacare, the number of uninsured the year  after Obamacare was finally implemented  is about the same as it was in 2008, the year before he was even elected.  That is the snake oil Obama is trying to sell as success. And this is what Democrats stood up and loudly applauded. And they wonder why they were wiped out in the last election.

There  were other lies as well.  According to an AP fact check, Obama's claims about "turning the page" and his successes with the economy arent exactly true. The AP wrote " "the U.S. may not have ' risen from recesssion'   quite as rousingly as President Obama suggested in his State of the Union speech.". It pointed out that seven years after the recession, household income still hasnt recovered from its pre-financial crisis levels. It also points out that Obama's touting of job growth isnt what it seems since most of the jobs created have been "poor quality" low paying jobs. His claims of higher wages is also deceptive. Hourly wages rose 1.7 percent last year, half the average growth of a healthy economy.

His lies and deceptions regarding Syria and Isis is for another time. As is his failures with Russia in Crimea and his failure to stand up to Putin in Ukraine and help arm the Ukrainian army against Russian tanks and troops illegally fighting with the rebels.

None of this stopped Democrats from standing and applauding.  And sending out emails the next day saying how Obama " nailed it". Unfortunately for them, most of the country including Democratic voters not only didn't applaud, they sat on their hands over the same news last November.And the only thing Obama nailed was the last nail in the Democrats coffin through 2015. Something Democrats need to admit and do something about if they want to win in 2016.