Obama: "I Cannot Tell the Truth"

The president and his health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, met the chief executives of four of the largest U.S. health insurance companies -- Aetna Inc, Cigna Corp, UnitedHealth Group Inc and WellPoint Inc -- at the White House this week.

"They couldn't give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums -- by as much as 60 percent in states like Illinois,"

Obama- weekly radio and Internet address.

Arbitrarily? This is the lie I was looking for before I sat through 30 minutes of lies, strawmen and general ignorance or dishonesty from Obama at his rally in Pennsylvania.

(I should have Googled it!)

One of Obama's talking points in his character assassination of the insurance industry is the word "arbitrary". He used it in his weekly address. He used it at the Health care rally in Pennsylvania.

ar·bi·trar·y
 
 /ˈɑrbɪˌtrɛri/ Show Spelled [ahr-bi-trer-ee],plural-trar·ies.
–adjective
1.
subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one's discretion: an arbitrary decision.
2.
decided by a judge or arbiter rather than by a law or statute.
3.
having unlimited power; uncontrolled or unrestricted by law; despotic; tyrannical: an arbitrary government.
4.
capricious; unreasonable; unsupported: an arbitrary demand for payment.

First, is there anyone who can still fog a mirror who believes Obama's line here? Is that how he asked the question? Calling rate hikes arbitrary and asking them to justify them?

And knowing that the insurance industry struggles to maintain a 2% profit, 7% for the most profitable ( or efficient ones), does any man woman or child think that the executives of that industry could not rationally justify any rate increase they've been forced to make?

Perhaps it resembled the following scenario:

Obama: Can you give me a straight answer why you keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums?

Insurance execs: Excuse me, Mr. President, but our rate hikes are hardly "arbitrary"! The rising cost of health care is raising our costs dramatically.

Obama: So, then, your answer is "No"?

Makes as much sense as anything else Obama says!

Cross Posted at Say Anything