Barack Obama's Lies

Listed and documented

Abortions in Obamacare       Armenian genocide       Bankruptcy judges       Campaign financed by small donations        Campaign public financing       Child care credit       Comment period for bills       Earmarks       Giffords opening her eyes       GITMO       Gulf oil spill       Healthcare law reduces costs       Healthcare on C-SPAN       Health insurance mandate       Imported prescription drugs       Income taxes for seniors       Lobbyists       Moon mission       No-bid contracts       Peace Corps       Penalty free retirement withdrawals       Science       Soccer game       Tax increases       Troops out of Iraq       Whaling       White Sox fan       "You lie!"

This web page is a work in progress. Barack Obama is a man with little affection for the truth and will frequently do the opposite of his words within 24 hours of speaking. It is next to impossible to keep up with the number and variety of the lies. This list attempts to document the most famous and/or most egregious examples.

Federal payment for abortions in Obamacare

The lie
"And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up – under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place."

Administration admits it lied about abortion - July 29, 2010

"That’s the translated reality of a new regulation that was issued today. We saw this coming, but now it’s official. I’ll let the incomparable Douglas Johnson from the National Right to Life Committee explain..."

Armenian genocide

The lie
"The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide."

Once again, Obama breaks promise - April 24, 2010

"President Obama today again broke his promise to use the word “genocide” when describing the systematic slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians at the beginning of the last century."

Obama against Armenian genocide bill - March 6, 2010

"US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has said the Obama administration will do what it can do block further progress of a controversial bill describing as genocide the killing by Turks of Armenians during WWI."

Obama refrains from saying "genocide" - April 24, 2009

"President Barack Obama Friday avoided calling the 1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks "genocide," despite vowing to use that exact term during his run for the White House."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - April 6, 2009

"But based on what we've seen so far, Obama won't say the word "genocide," even when discussing the events in question. During the campaign, he specifically said he would."

Bankruptcy judges

The lie
"...current Chapter 13 law prohibits bankruptcy judges from modifying the original terms of home mortgages for ordinary families—regardless of whether the loan was predatory or unfair or is otherwise unaffordable. Barack Obama will repeal this provision so that ordinary families can also get relief that bankruptcy laws were intended to provide."

PolitiFact.com rates the promise broken - January 6, 2010

"The Obama administration did very little to lobby for the provision, preferring instead its voluntary mortgage modification plan known as the Home Affordable Modification Program, or Making Home Affordable, said Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute."

Campaign financed by small donations

The lie
"...the vast majority of the money I got was from small donors all across the country."

PolitiFact.com rates the statement false - April 22, 2010

"Obama's skill at raising money from small donors for the 2008 campaign was significant. But Obama was also skilled at raising money from large donors. His statement was, "the vast majority of the money I got was from small donors all across the country." That's not the case. Only 32 percent of his general election money came from people who gave $200 or less."

Obama accepting untraceable donations - October 29, 2008

"Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is allowing donors to use largely untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor's identity, campaign officials confirmed."

5-day comment period before signing bills

The lie
"I will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - January 29, 2009

"Obama's campaign Web site states, "As president, Obama will not sign any nonemergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House Web site for five days." But the first bill Obama signed into law as president — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — got no such vetting."

Campaign public financing

The lie
"If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

In a shift, Obama rejects public funding - June 20, 2008

"Barack Obama rejected public funding for the fall presidential campaign yesterday... John McCain confirmed later yesterday that he will take $84.1 million in taxpayer funding for the general election, and accused Obama of reneging on a pledge to do the same. "He has completely reversed himself and gone back, not on his word to me, but the commitment he made to the American people," McCain told reporters."

Mr. Obama's waffle - February 16, 2008

"It must be tempting for a campaign that has reached dizzying new financial heights to give up the guarantee of $85 million in federal funds for the prospect of being able to rake in even more... But this kind of backtracking and parsing isn't what the millions of voters who have been inspired by Mr. Obama are looking for."

Child and dependent care credit

The lie
"Senator Obama’s tax plan would make the credit refundable and increase the maximum rate from 35 to 50 percent. It would also increase from $15,000 to $30,000 the threshold at which the credit rate begins to phase down..."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - December 21, 2010

"One thing that wasn't included in the deal was expanding the child and dependent care credit, nor was it made refundable."

Reduce earmarks

The lie
"Barack Obama is committed to returning earmarks to less than $7.8 billion a year, the level they were at before 1994..."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - February 19, 2010

"The final numbers are in, and as expected President Barack Obama was unable to keep his promise to hold earmarks to less than $7.8 billion a year, the level they were at before 1994."

Rep. Giffords opening her eyes

The lie
"And I want to tell you -- her husband, Mark, is here, and he allows me to share this with you. Right after we went to visit, a few minutes after we left her room and some of her colleagues from Congress were in the room, Gabby opened her eyes for the first time."

Giffords opened her eyes on SUNDAY - January 13, 2011

"Wednesday’s memorial service in Tucson, President Obama announced that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time since she was shot in the head on Saturday. But three days earlier, the Tucson Sentinel reported that Giffords had opened her eyes on Sunday..."

GITMO

The lie as candidate
"As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo."
The lie as president
"The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order. [January 22, 2009]"

Obama, in blow to closing GITMO, signs law - January 7, 2011

"President Barack Obama, in a setback to hopes for the quick closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison, reluctantly signed a bill on Friday barring suspects held there from being brought to the United States for trial."

Levin: Gitmo closure going nowhere - June 8, 2010

"It's been more than five months since the Obama administration missed its self-imposed deadline for the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. And as things stand now, one key member of Congress says, the White House is showing little to no willingness to continue pursuing one of the more high-minded promises made by the president before entering office."

Reality time at Gitmo - June 4, 2010

"The crowd pushing President Obama to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay posthaste, as he so prematurely promised, should acquaint themselves with a stunning recommendation by his own task force: Of the 240 detainees there, 48 should be held indefinitely, without trial, under the laws of war."

Obama signs order to close Guantanamo Bay - January 22, 2009

"Promising to return America to the "moral high ground" in the war on terrorism, President Obama issued three executive orders Thursday to demonstrate a clean break from the Bush administration, including one requiring that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility be closed within a year."

Gulf oil spill

The lie
"...we are leaving no stone unturned in terms of our ability to respond to this crisis."

Why won't he waive the Jones Act? - June 21, 2010

"While the president says he "will not settle for inaction," his failure to waive the Jones Act -- even if for the sole purpose of sending a message to our allies -- suggests he's not doing everything he can."

Only accepted help from 5 countries - June 19, 2010

"This weekend as President Obama went golfing and to the ballgame, the Obama State Department was STILL in the review process on deciding which countries the US would accept help from… 60 days after the disaster! As the Gulf Coast shores continue to be coated with crude, the Obama Administration has only accepted assistance from 5 countries out of 28 who offered to assist the US with the cleanup."

Are unions Dock Blocking oil cleanup ships? - June 16, 2010

"President Obama is impeding clean-up efforts in the Gulf by kowtowing to unions and members of the American maritime industry, critics have charged in recent days. At issue is the president’s refusal to waive the Jones Act..."

Jones Act: Does cleanup need foreign boats? - June 16, 2010

"Congressmen along the coast are pleading for a better and more coherent response, and pressure is growing to waive the protectionist Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (known as the Jones Act, for its sponsor), which blocks foreign fleets from helping in the Gulf."

"Captain Kickass" Obama won't lift Jones Act - June 12, 2010

"Within days of the oil spill, several European nations and thirteen countries in total apparently offered the Obama administration ships to assist in the clean-up of the Gulf... According to one newspaper, European firms could complete the task in four months, rather than an estimated nine months if done only by the U.S. Working with the U.S., the cleanup could be accomplished in three months."

Jones Act slowing oil spill cleanup? - June 10, 2010

"Foreign companies possessing some of the world’s most advanced oil skimming ships say they are being kept out of efforts to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf because of a 1920’s law known as the Jones Act -- a protectionist law that requires vessels working in US waters be built in the US and be crewed by US workers."

U.S. not accepting foreign help - May 6, 2010

"When State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley refused to tell reporters which countries have offered assistance to help respond to the BP oil spill, the State Department press corps was flabbergasted."

Healthcare law will reduce costs

The lie
The president uttered this lie too many times to count. He campaigned for president with this lie, and then campaigned across the country while Obamacare was being debated in Congress. Here is a typical statement, made in the White House East Room on March 3, 2010, while flanked by doctors and nurses in white jackets for dramatic effect: "Finally, my proposal would bring down the cost of health care for millions -- families, businesses, and the federal government. We have now incorporated most of the serious ideas from across the political spectrum about how to contain the rising cost of health care --- ideas that go after the waste and abuse in our system, especially in programs like Medicare."

The 'L' word - September 13, 2010

"What do you call a person that tells you one thing, but knows that isn't true? For instance, in March the President said "My proposal would bring down the cost of health care for millions — families, businesses and the federal government." On Friday our President seemed to get a small dose of reality when he said "As a consequence of us getting 30 million additional people health care, at the margins that's going to increase our costs—we knew that.""

Healthcare negotiations in public on C-SPAN

The lie
Town hall meeting on Aug. 21, 2008, in Chester, Virginia: "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - July 10, 2009

"...so far, substantial negotiations on health reform have been held behind closed doors. These include two agreements with the drug industry and hospitals to reduce costs over the next 10 years. In Congress, some of the committee bill writing sessions have been open, but negotiations are also taking place behind closed doors."

Health insurance mandate

The lie
"...the reason Americans don't have health insurance isn't because they don't want it, it's because they can't afford it, which is why my plan doesn't have a mandate..."

The audacity of rope-a-dope - May 28, 2010

"As a candidate, Obama actually campaigned against many of the law's most important provisions. Obama's biggest policy switch came on the mandate that all Americans buy health insurance coverage. The health care plan Obama unveiled to great fanfare in 2007 and henceforth campaigned on contained no mandate."

Vote to nullify insurance mandate in Louisiana - May 13, 2010

"The [Louisiana] House of Representatives voted 59-15 today to declare that Louisiana residents should not be subject to the looming mandate to buy health insurance, an anchor provision of President Barack Obama's recently enacted health care overhaul."

13 state AG's file suit against mandate - March 28, 2010

"Just minutes after President Obama signed the health care legislation into law on Tuesday, 13 state attorneys general, led by Bill McCollum of Florida, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law’s constitutionality. Virginia’s attorney general, Kenneth Cuccinelli, filed a similar suit the same day. Both complaints charge that Congress has no power under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause to require that all Americans buy health insurance..."

Imported prescription drugs

The lie
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - April 8, 2010

"...in the wake of negotiations with the prescription drug industry -- one of the first big health industry players to support the White House's health care reform effort -- Obama's drug importation promise faded into the background. Now, with passage, it's officially off the table."

Income taxes for seniors

The lie
"Barack Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors – saving them an average of $1,400 a year-- and will also mean that 27 million seniors will not need to file an income tax return at all."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - April 15, 2009

"Today, on Tax Day, Obama gave a speech in which he talked about his other tax promises and how he wants to reshape the tax code to make it simple and more efficient. But he never mentioned his promise of curtailing the income tax for seniors... We asked the White House about it, but got no response."

No lobbyists will be hired

The lie
During the campaign: "No political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration."
January 21, 2009, while signing executive order on ethics: "If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president. And there will be a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration as well."

Obama has now appointed 50 lobbyists - March 31, 2010

"President Obama used his recess-appointment power to place four former federal lobbyists -- representing defense contractors and the agri-chemical industry among others -- in top policy jobs. Obama's maneuver dodges a Senate floor debate and sweeps under the rug an inauspicious milestone: The appointment of the 50th lobbyist to a policymaking job by a president who claims he's "excluded" them."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - March 17, 2009

"Obama's ethics proposals specifically spelled out that former lobbyists would not be allowed to "work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." On his first full day in office, Obama signed an executive order to that effect. But the order has a loophole — a "waiver" clause that allows former lobbyists to serve. That waiver clause has been used at least three times, and in some cases, the administration allows former lobbyists to serve without a waiver. After examining the administration's actions for the past two months, we have concluded that Obama has broken this promise."

Human mission to moon

The lie
"Barack Obama will support renewed human exploration beyond low earth orbit. He endorses the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - February 15, 2010

"With the release of his fiscal year 2011 budget, President Barack Obama dramatically broke one of his campaign promises."

Obama scraps Constellation moon mission - February 1, 2010

"President Barack Obama is calling on NASA to cancel its plans to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and instead focus on developing "building blocks" for future deep space exploration as well as partnerships with private industry."

Obama ends NASA’s moon program - February 1, 2010

"President Obama is calling on NASA to cancel the program that was to return humans to the Moon by 2020, and focus instead on radically new space technologies."

No-bid contracts

The lie
"Obama will ensure that federal contracts over $25,000 are competitively bid."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - January 6, 2010

"Based on the stream of guidance flowing from the OMB and White House to the federal agencies, it seems clear to us the administration does not plan to fulfill the president's promise of requiring competitive bids for every contract worth more than $25,000. And neither the OMB nor the White House disputes this..."

Double the size of the Peace Corps

The lie
"Barack Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and push Congress to fully fund this expansion, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - February 18, 2010

"The administration said in its budget proposal that the amount allocated for 2011 would put the Peace Corps "on track" to reach 11,000 volunteers by 2016. So, rather than reaching 16,000 volunteers in two years, the Peace Corps would be on pace to reach 5,000 fewer than that in seven years."

Penalty-free retirement account withdrawals

The lie
"Many families are going to be facing unique economic hardship over the coming year. To help these families pay their bills and their mortgages and make it through these tough times, Obama and Biden are calling for legislation that would allow withdrawals of 15% up to $10,000 from retirement accounts without penalty (although subject to the normal taxes)."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - April 10, 2009

"Penalty-free withdrawals weren't included in the economic stimulus bill that became the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Nor were they part of Obama's budget outline, which Congress approved on April 2, 2009. It doesn't appear that any member of Congress has introduced such a measure. Everyone we've asked about the idea says it's not going to happen."

Science

The lie
"It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology."

Report on drilling ban was doctored - November 10, 2010

"In the wake of the BP oil spill, the Obama White House rushed out a report from an independent group of scientists and engineers that strongly suggested they supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling. Economic damage resulted throughout the Gulf region (red-state territory, by the way), thousands of jobs were lost, income plummeted, offshore drilling equipment was sent to overseas locations, oil production plummeted , prices went up, and oil exporting nations benefited from the rise in oil prices. The problem? The White House cheated and lied."

Spill panel big on policy, not engineering - June 20, 2010

"The panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is short on technical expertise but long on talking publicly about "America's addiction to oil." One member has blogged about it regularly."

He blinded me with science - June 18, 2010

"Obama cited a report commissioned by the Interior Department that purported to recommend the ban... Except that was untrue. In fact, it was such a glaring lie that the seven engineers who peer-reviewed an earlier version of the document felt obliged to come forward to clear the air."

Science on drill ban questioned - June 16, 2010

""Candidate Obama said he wished to be guided by science, not by politics. The seven or eight engineers he requested from the National Academy of Engineering to review his plan have repudiated this moratorium," said Rep. Bill Cassidy, Louisiana Republican."

EPA suppressed report on global warming - June 27, 2009

"The Environmental Protection Agency may have suppressed an internal report that was skeptical of claims about global warming, including whether carbon dioxide must be strictly regulated by the federal government, according to a series of newly disclosed e-mail messages."

Soccer game

The lie
"The president left the White House at approximately 9:20 to attend one of his daughter's soccer games at 40th and Chesapeake NW. A pool was hastily called at around 9:35 and drove north at 9:43 to catch the president before the game ended. We didn't make it. The President returned to the White House at 10:17. The pool returned at 10:30."

Obama attends non-existent soccer game? - April 13, 2010

"Reading the story about President Obama breaking tradition and ditching the presidential press pool over the weekend to watch one of his daughter's soccer games, it appears harmless, right? Not so. It is rather disturbing when you dissect it."

"Apparently I caused a problem" - April 11, 2010

"President Obama Sunday seemed to shrug off the brouhaha after he broke with White House tradition and ditched his press pool earlier this weekend to watch one of his daughter’s soccer games."

Obama breaches years of WH-press tradition - April 11, 2010

"President Obama quietly breached years of protocol Saturday morning by leaving the White House without the press."

Tax increases

The lie
"I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

Comprehensive list of Obamacare tax hikes - January 14, 2011

"Next week, the U.S. House of Representatives will be voting on an historic repeal of the Obamacare law. While there are many reasons to oppose this flawed government health insurance law, it is important to remember that Obamacare is also one of the largest tax increases in American history. Below is a comprehensive list of the two dozen new or higher taxes that pay for Obamcare’s expansion of government spending..."

23 million Americans hit by tax hike - October 5, 2010

"Almost 23 million American households have already had their federal taxes raised by an average of $3,900 this year, but they may not know it yet. They could get a big surprise when they prepare their tax returns next year. Among those subject to this already-in-place tax increase are some families making less than $50,000 per year, and virtually all married couples earning between $100,000 and $500,000 a year, according to data published by the Congressional Budget Office."

Now defends insurance mandate as tax - July 17, 2010

"When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”"

Backing off the tax pledge - May 12, 2010

"White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, grilled about Obama’s pledge not to raise middle-class taxes, left the president wiggle room."

Dems have increased taxes by $670 billion - April 14, 2010

"Since January of 2009, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have enacted into law gross tax increases totaling more than $670 billion, or more than $2,100 for every man, woman and child in the United States. The list of tax increases includes at least 14 violations of the President’s pledge not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for married couples."

PolitiFact.com rates promise broken - April 8, 2010

"We were willing to give President Barack Obama a Compromise rating on this promise when a new cigarette tax went into effect. But the latest health care bill includes more broad-based taxes that are pushing us toward Promise Broken."

Troops out of Iraq

The lie
"Based on the conversations we’ve had internally as well as external reports, we believe that you can get one to two brigades out a month. At that pace, the forces would be out in approximately 16 months from the time that we began. That would be the time frame that I would be setting up."

How's that pledge working out? - May 24, 2010

"Obama’s been President for 16 months. How’s that “troops out of Iraq in 16 months” pledge working out?"

Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - July 19, 2008

"Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months."

Matt Lauer grills Obama about waffling on pledge - July 9, 2008

"Now you say "I'll talk to commanders and generals on the ground and my ideas are being refined." People do get nervous about that, Senator."

Whaling

The lie
"As president, I will ensure that the U.S. provides leadership in enforcing international wildlife protection agreements, including strengthening the international moratorium on commercial whaling. Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable."

Future of commercial whaling ban - June 18, 2010

"Nations will next week consider whether to sanction commercial whale hunts for the first time in a quarter-century, a compromise to coax Japan into ending an annual cull of hundreds of the sea mammals in a sanctuary in the Antarctic."

Obama under fire for deal to lift whaling ban - June 5, 2010

"Environmentalists, already peeved with the administration’s handling of the Gulf oil spill, are accusing President Obama of breaking his campaign pledge to end the slaughter of whales."

White Sox fan?

The lie
Barack Obama the politician, trying to make himself appear to be a regular guy, and especially trying to make himself appear to be a regular south-side-of-Chicago black guy rather than one of those yuppie white-skinned Cubs followers, has always made a big deal out of being a White Sox fan, even going so far as to insult the Washington Nationals on April 5, 2010, by throwing out the first pitch of the season wearing a White Sox cap... but when asked by announcers afterward who his favorite White Sox player is, he couldn't name one.

Cannot actually name a White Sox player - April 8, 2010

"You know uh ….. I … I thought that … uh …. you know … the truth is a lot of the Cubs I like too! But, uh …"

Watch president throw like a girl (again) - April 5, 2010

YouTube video.

"You lie!"

The lies
Number 1: "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."
Number 2: "And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up – under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place."

You lie - September 21, 2009

"By this time most people know that Joe Wilson, congressman from South Carolina, shouted “You lie!” during President Obama’s speech to congress on September 9. And most people know that our president was, in fact, lying."