At the end of the day, the root of President Barack Obama’s mendacity on Obamacare was simple: He didn’t dare tell people how the law would work. He couldn’t tell people how the law would work. Forthrightness was the enemy. It served no useful purpose and could only bring peril, and potentially defeat.

◼ The Bad Faith Presidency - Rich Lowry/National Review Online

Forthrightness was the enemy. It served no useful purpose and could only bring peril, and potentially defeat. It had to be banished. Instead, President Obama made the sale on the basis of dubious blandishments and outright deceptions. If this is the only way to pass your signature initiative — and achieve a decades-long goal of your party — it ought to give you pause.