In a popular public speaking college text[1], my students are enjoined to be honest in what they say because "public speaking rests on the unspoken assumption that 'words can be trusted and people will be truthful.'"  Clearly blatant contempt for the truth is one kind of dishonesty but "more subtle forms of dishonesty are just as unethical."  These include

• juggling statistics, quoting out of context, [and] misrepresenting the source of facts and figures

• painting tentative findings as firm conclusions

• portraying a few details as the whole story

• citing unusual cases as typical examples

• substituting innuendo and half-truths for evidence and proof

• defaming, demeaning or degrading individuals or groups and engaging in abusive language

Barack Obama "juggles statistics" by stating that unemployment numbers are down but neglects to explain that "167,000 people dropped out of the labor force every month."  Thus, if "342,000 workers had not been suddenly dropped from the labor force meaning the size of the labor force was the same as March 2012, then the unemployment rate would have risen two tenths to 8.4%.  Or, if the labor force were the same size as when Obama took office, [the unemployment rate] would be a staggering 11.1%."  In fact, the unemployment rate is meaningless since "some 5 million fewer Americans are working than when Obama took office."

Obama is a master of "misrepresenting the source of facts and figures" as well as "portraying a few details as the whole story."  Recently Obama asserted "that 'an independent, non-partisan organization' ran all the numbers on Governor Romney's [tax] plan claiming that it will raise taxes on millions of Americans.  Yet this report is neither independent nor non-partisan."  It turns out that the author of this study is Adam Looney who was on Obama's staff from 2009 and 2010.  In addition, "Looney was a Senior Economist for Obama's Council of Economic Advisers."  This is hardly a disinterested or unbiased individual.  This is not the first time that Obama has "passed off blatantly partisan propaganda as 'independent.'" In July of 2012 Obama cited a study by professor Kimberly Clausing that claimed that Romney's jobs plan would create jobs overseas.  But Clausing is not an independent researcher since records show that he donated money to Obama's political campaign in 2011 and 2012. 

In fact, Romney has refuted these assertions by showing that his plan calls for reducing all income tax rates by 20 percent.  Yet this You Tube has Obama "spouting [the] bogus study as fact."

On to "tentative findings as firm conclusions."  In 2009 Mr. Obama admitted that "he didn't know all the facts" [about Henry (Skip) Gates] but that certainly did not get in the way of his ramping up the incident, generalizing about a group of peace officers who were doing their job, and fomenting racial animosity. Then Obama weighed in on the ongoing Trayvon Martin case before a full investigation was made and once again pandered to race baiting. For a Harvard law professor, Obama shows a reckless abandonment of legal procedures.

Concerning "blatant contempt for truth" Obama's lies are becoming notorious in their breadth and depth.  He told America that no one would be compelled to buy health coverage and many believed him.  Mr. Lee Stranahan was a former Obama supporter.  Yet, Stranahan has seen the light and this You Tube highlights the prevarications of the man whose tongue supposedly was "dipped in the unvarnished truth." 

Supposedly there would "be no more secrecy" under this 44^th President.  In this letter from C-SPAN, one is reminded that under Obama there would be total transparency.  In fact, the total opposite occurred as C-SPAN was repeatedly denied coverage concerning Obamacare.

Here is another bait and switch maneuver by the President who never directly answers a question.  During this interview, George Stephanopoulos kept inquiring about the tax implications of the now health care law.  Nonetheless, Obama kept insisting that "it is absolutely not a tax increase." Obama dismissed the gist of the question by claiming that being specific about the meaning of the word is "really a stretch."  Well, I guess when one is a pathological liar, definitive meanings of words would be threatening.

Obama is quite adept at "substituting half-truths for evidence and proof." Jonathan Tobin writes in Commentary that "[d]uring the 2008 campaign the president used his mother's experience as a cancer patient fighting to get coverage to pay for treatment for what her insurer said was a pre-existing condition as an emotional argument to sway skeptics." 

Only problem is that Obama lied about this.

In reality, "her actual health insurer had apparently reimbursed most of her medical expenses without argument."

Tobin maintains that, "President Obama's willingness to falsify the facts about a personal tragedy in order to make political points speaks volumes about not only his cynicism but also his character.  It's important to remember that this is no misunderstanding but rather a bald-faced lie."  When this lie was uncovered, Obama never apologized about it.  It would seem that Pinocchio is a close bed-fellow of Obama's.

And when it comes to defamation or degrading individuals and groups, Obama excels.

For the President of the United States to insinuate that a mobster-like brawl is proper protocol hardly sends a message of respect for the office. He continues to demean the office of the Presidency by his overweening self-confidence which translates into a lavish lifestyle in office while so many Americans are feeling the pinch of his so-called economic recovery plans.  As David Limbaugh explains in The Great Destroyer[2]

While Obama is berating America's fat-cat bankers and corporatist raiders, his White House sends out photos of a casually dressed Obama with his feet propped high on the people's desk, seemingly unconcerned about the cratering economy and staggering debt.  While he directs public money into failed green energy ventures that wouldn't get the first investment dime from the free market and lectures Americans about conservation, he gallivants about in a near twenty-car motorcade of gas guzzling SUVs and limousines, stopping traffic where he goes and subjecting everyone to his aversion to punctuality.

Obama demeaned an entire police force and claimed that the Cambridge police department "act[ed] stupidly." Then there is the President claiming that when Americans become upset with government they "get bitter and cling to guns and religion."  Coming from a Marxist-trained individual, the dig at religion is to be expected.  And it has escalated by his pointed attack on the Catholic Church who is currently suing the federal government over Obamacare mandates that would force the Church to go against its own doctrines.

How many more examples of prevarication, dissembling and outright lying does one need to be convinced of the mendacity of this man? 

This ongoing unethical behavior has one aim. Obama continues to divide us by lying to us because "his electability depends entirely on pitting people against each other."  Rich vs. poor, black vs. white, Christians vs. secularists ~ the list goes on.  Should he gain another four years in office this trend will deepen.  It is, in effect, "the formation of a persecuting society."[3]  Communist countries are notorious for this class warfare and resultant "re-education" of those who resist governmental edicts. 

In fact, the isolation of various groups of people and the eventual eradication of others "owe[s] their persecution in the first place not to the hatred of the people but to the decision of princes and prelates."  Even the ACLU is concerned that Obama has exceeded his power.  Recall though that Obama has learned at the feet of avowed Marxists, and continues to support Islamists whose belief system calls for the dhimmitude of non-Muslims.

Don't say you weren't warned!

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com.

[1] Stephen E. Lucas. The Art of Public Speaking. New York: McGraw Hill, 2012.

[2] David Limbaugh. The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War on the Republic. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2012, p. 381.

[3] R.I. Moore. The Formation of a Persecuting Society. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1990.