One of Barack Obama's most irritating rhetorical tropes is his oft-stated aversion to "cynicism." It is vexing in substantial part because of its breathtaking and demagogic hypocrisy: Obama inveighs against cynicism in a cynical effort to manipulate the gullible, to make them feel good about their naiveté. That helps explain how he has maintained a base of support, albeit a shrinking one, as the disaster that is ObamaCare has unfolded.

In his 1892 comedy "Lady Windermere's Fan," Oscar Wilde defined a cynic...