Obama's Utterly Bogus and Insincere Attack Against Big Pharma

The D.C. Examiner's Timothy P. Carney spells out how "Emails show Obama fake-fighting the drug industry" before, during, and after passage of ObamaCare. Excerpt:

Obamacare emails made public last week show that Obama is skilled at publicly pretending to fight a supposed bad guy—the drug lobby, in this case—while ensuring neither side actually gets hurt, both sides get paid, and everyone can be chums afterward.

Throughout his campaign and while pushing his health care law, Obama regularly spoke as if he were sticking it to the drug industry. But these were phantom punches. Sometimes, the emails show, the drug lobbyists didn't even blink an eye.

"If the drugmakers pay their fair share," Obama said in a weekly radio address in June 2009, "we can cut government spending on prescription drugs." […]

But top PhRMA lobbyist Bryant Hall, a former Democratic Senate staffer, had an advance copy of the script and emailed his colleagues the night before Obama's address aired. "Background is that the Pres's words are harmless," Hall wrote. "He knows personally about our deal and is pushing no agenda."

Whole thing here. The brazen mendacity with which the administration advocated, passed, sold, and defended its signature legislative accomplishment has been breathtaking.