WaPo Places Obama’s ‘If You Like Your Health Plan’ Among Worst Modern Presidential Lies

FILE - In a Dec. 31, 2012, file photo President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington. When President Barack Obama speaks at the University at Buffalo Thur... FILE - In a Dec. 31, 2012, file photo President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington. When President Barack Obama speaks at the University at Buffalo Thursday Aug. 22, 2013, about making college more affordable, supporters of an innovative scholarship program are hoping for a plug. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, file) MORE LESS
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In the pantheon of presidential lies, the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler has placed President Barack Obama’s “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” statement alongside the similarly infamous statements of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.

In a Monday post, Kessler wrote: “We are looking for at least one false statement from each president — or authorized by a president — since the television age began. Some are fairly easy to put on a list.”

He then listed Obama’s Obamacare claim with Bush’s “Read my lips: no new taxes,” Clinton’s “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” and Nixon’s “I’m not a crook” as those most obvious examples.

PolitiFact had already ranked Obama’s statement as the 2013 Lie of the Year.

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