Candidates for president make all sorts of promises, many of which are difficult or impossible to keep.
But one promise made by then-candidate Barack Obama could easily have been kept with just a bit of cooperation from his fellow Democrats in Congress.
Campaigning for the highest office in the land, he repeatedly said he would let the public watch negotiations on the massive proposed overhaul of our nation’s medical system. He even vowed to have the discussions aired on C-SPAN.
But to the disappointment of Americans of varied political views and supporters of open government, he has broken that pledge. He is exerting no pressure on the Democrat-run Congress to “let the sunshine” of public scrutiny in. C-SPAN’s requests to air the talks have been denied, and the discussions are being kept under wraps, even though they will result in a final bill that could take over one-sixth of our economy.
The obvious goal is to keep the American people in the dark as long as possible about the costly, reckless provisions of the legislation, so that there will not be time for the public to get a clear picture before final votes take place and a bill is sent to Mr. Obama for his signature.
That secrecy is a grave disservice to the taxpayers who will pay the price of ObamaCare for generations.