Everyone lies. I’m not arguing over semantics but lying is an integral part of life. Presidents and politicians are not immune from this onerous necessity. The most obvious example is Bill Clinton’s infamous equivocation of “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Clinton’s statement, even at the time, was understood as a blatant lie, but this is not doublespeak. Doublespeak is not a lie, necessarily. It is more of a false propaganda being repeated and ingrained as the truth.

The singular species that seem to inhabit Washington DC are interesting to say the least, but are they liars? Certainly they have some animosity towards each other (I will point to this HILARIOUS John Stewart clip as an example).

The Hilarious Animosity of Politicians

But do they have animosity towards the American People? Probably not, but then why lie? I do not think the answer is so simple. With Doublespeak so prevalent in our political system, it is not surprising that even our highest official is exploiting this instrument. Obama’s rhetorically crafted “Middle Economics” has baffled people with its claims of “lifting” the middle class, all the while hiding behind a thin veneer of assistance to welfare programs and increases in taxes that really characterize the program as one of social benefit to the poor. I am not saying that this program will only help the poor and that it will not help the middle class in any way, but calling it a purely middle class fueled policy is simply not true. Even with many political news organizations, such as Politico and CNN supporting this view 1, the President adamantly continues this false rhetoric.

Historically, Politicians have used doublespeak for many reasons. George Washington certainly did set the precedent in the United States being the first President under the Constitution. Washington was under tremendous pressure to further the democratic policies of the United States. That means not taking sides in the party politics which was taking form at the time. Neutrality was something that Washington was not used to. As the leader of the American Revolution, Washington certainly was not indifferent, so this task proved novel and nearly impossible for Washington. Indeed, Washington did seem to favor Hamilton’s economic views 2 and policies with an unnerving loyalty that surprised and even angered Hamilton’s opponent, the ever so great Thomas Jefferson. Washington despite these political leanings understood the importance of the neutrality. And so throughout his Presidency, he maintained that he was above the petty party politics, as his farewell address implies 3 , but he was a Federalist if I’ve ever seen one.

Does the Presidency just have this intrinsic quality of bringing out the propaganda-esque Cold War paranoid politician in our great leaders?

Maybe, but Obama is not new to this cycle. Presidents have been juggling this kind of rhetoric for decades. While his middle economics is not really a middle class fueled policy, it is certainly necessary to characterize it as such to win the support of the country and more importantly, the Republicans.

But for now, and probably forever, we will just have to watch the President dance with his own contradictions.