Claim: The Obama administration has proposed a 2,300-page “New Constitution.”

FALSE

Example: [Collected via e-mail, October 2013]



I saw this status posted on a political FB page: I saw this status posted on a political FB page: “Obama Administration Proposes 2300-Page ‘New Constitution'” Is there any truth to this?



Origins: On 10 October 2013, Charles Hugh Smith’s “Of Two Minds” blog posted an entry positing the Obama administration had compiled a 2,300-page “new Constitution” which it was proposing be used to replace the existing U.S. Constitution:





The Obama Administration has proposed replacing the current U.S. Constitution (4,543 words, including the signatures with a 2,300-page “new Constitution” that in the words of an administration spokesperson, “clears up the gray areas in the current Constitution.” The Obama Administration has proposed replacing the current U.S. Constitutionincluding the signatures with a“new Constitution” that in the words of an administration spokesperson, “clears up the gray areas in the current Constitution.” The proposal was launched after the success of two recent 1,000+ page pieces of legislation, the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial reform act. An additional 200+ pages of the “new Constitution” are redacted due to the sensitive nature of the National Security-related amendments. Lobbyists from key industries were invited to contribute amendments to the new Constitution;” constitutional legal experts were also invited to submit improvements to the current law of the land. Some critics who have reviewed the 2,300 pages of the proposed “new Constitution” have stated that the document is impenetrable even to those with law degrees. Average citizens “will be unable to understand the laws that govern their lives.” Other observers note that the complexity and length of legislation such as the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial reform act are already beyond the comprehension of all but a handful of experts. An administration spokesperson defended the proposed re-write on the grounds that “the new Constitution will provide the clarity that people want in their Constitution.”





Soon afterwards, reproductions of that blog entry were being circulated via social media and political web sites, with many of those who encountered it mistaking it for a genuine news article. However, this item was just a parody that spoofed (among other things) the length and complexity of some recent pieces of legislation and the government’s penchant for secrecy in the post-9/11 world.

If some of the more absurd elements of the blog post (e.g., a Constitution with “200+ pages redacted due to the sensitive nature of the National Security-related amendments”) wasn’t enough of a clue to its satirical origins, then the inclusion of the word “parody” in its URL should have been.

This topic wasn’t even new in October 2013, as the fantastically fictonal Weekly World News site had riffed on the same subject in a 21 June 2013 spoof that had President Obama ripping up the original

Constitution and writing a new one:





President Barack Obama reportedly said The U.S. Constitution is out-of-date, so he is ripping it up and writing a new one. President Barack Obama reportedly said The U.S. Constitution is out-of-date, so he is ripping it up and writing a new one. President Barack Obama reportedly told reporters last night that the U.S. Constitution has become a hindrance to progress in America. “The document is so out-dated, that it is now becoming a hindrance to governing the country.” Obama has signed an Executive Order voiding the U.S. Constitution. “We need to move forward. We need change.” Obama reportedly said he has already drafted a new constitution and that Americans “will love what I came up with.” Insiders say Obama is keeping a lot of old elements from the original constitution “he’s just making it better, bringing it into the 21st century,” said White House Spokesman, Jay Carney.



