An analysis published Wednesday by FactCheck.org identifies four more factual problems with Obama’s campaign film “The Road We’ve Traveled”:
- The film says “17 million kids could no longer be denied for preexisting conditions,” implying all of them were being denied care before the federal health care law was passed. But that’s the total number of kids who could potentially be denied coverage or charged higher premiums if they sought coverage on the individual market.
- It also implies that Obama has reined in the costs of health care premiums — which “had been rising at three times the rate of inflation,” as the film says. But the law hasn’t reined in premiums, which still rose three times more than inflation last year. In fact, experts say some of the recent growth was caused by the law, which requires more generous coverage.
- The film suggests that Obama refused to compromise on health care. Obama did hold out for a comprehensive bill, but there was compromise along the way, including the decision to drop the “public option” that he once championed. Later, he called the law “nine-tenths of a loaf.”
- On the auto bailout, the video…suggests that Bush gave away $13 billion to auto companies without demanding action on their part, when, in fact, Bush required them to come up with the so-called economic viability plans by March 31, 2009. Obama then used the plans to force the companies into bankruptcy and force the restructuring of the companies.
These four new factual issues are in addition to two others already noted here at Breitbart.com. The first issue, also noted by FactCheck.org, is the inaccurate statement the film makes about the auto bailout. FactCheck’s figures are a bit different than those posted by Raw Story, but the conclusion is the same. Taxpayers have not been fully repaid for the bailout.
The second issue was identified by the Washington Post earlier this week. Contrary to what the film implies, Obama’s mother did not fight with her insurance company over medical coverage in her last days and, according to her biographer, nothing the insurance company did diminished her chances at recovery.
In all, that’s six significant errors in the 17-minute movie. But notice the words used by FactCheck.org. The film “suggests” or “implies.” As I pointed out here, the filmmakers have been careful not to lie outright, but are more than willing to make intentionally misleading claims which leave viewers with a false sense of the facts.
Obama’s “Road” movie turns out to be the kind of history you might get from a braggart at the local bar after he’s had a few cocktails. Sure, it’s entertaining, emotional stuff, but you’d be a fool to believe it was true.