Obama lies about his role in the Cornhusker Kickback

The president went on Fox News yesterday for a rare interview with a network his former communications director once described as not practicing news. Obama's interviewer was Bret Baier, who asked tenaciously about the special deals and procedural tricks that have been used to push ObamaCare through Congress. This is perhaps the first time Obama has ever been directly asked about the procedural details of the bill.

At one point, Baier pressed the president on the Cornhusker Kickback, the infamous deal that would have paid off Nebraska's Medicaid bills indefinitely and forever. The deal was struck to persuade Sen. Ben Nelson to vote for ObamaCare despite his hang-ups about abortion. Regarding the Cornhusker Kickback, Obama declared, "I have said that there's certain provisions, like this Nebraska one, that don't make sense and that needed to be out. And we have removed those."

This is simply untrue. The White House was almost certainly the architect of the Cornhusker Kickback. After Nelson announced his concerns over the abortion language in the bill, Obama began persistently meeting with the Nebraska senator at the White House. Nelson had a number of private one-on-one sessions with the president, with whom he was close friends. It was after these meetings that the Cornhusker Kickback was announced and Nelson switched from a no to yes vote. Of course, the idea could have been proposed by Harry Reid or another Senate Democrat, but it was certainly inserted in the bill with Obama's blessing. Obama's claim that he was above all this dealmaking is false. This is his Chicago politics.

The Cornhusker Kickback was never actually removed from the Senate bill, as the president claimed. The president toyed around with the idea of paying off all the states' Medicaid bills, but only after Nelson's deal became so politically toxic that even Nelson came out against it. The reconciliation sidecar does away with the Cornhusker Kickback, but only after the deal was conveniently used to bribe Nelson to help break the filibuster.

Baier's full interview with the president was riveting and contentious. Here's the video:

Obama: Actually I'm okay with all those Senate deals

The White House flip-flopped today on its insistence that special deals used to bribe senators into supporting ObamaCare be removed.

Taking a new position, Axelrod said the White House only objects to state-specific arrangements, such as an increase in Medicaid funding for Nebraska, ridiculed as the "Cornhusker Kickback." That's being cut, but provisions that could affect more than one state are OK, Axelrod said.

That means deals sought by senators from Montana and Connecticut would be fine — even though Gibbs last week singled them out as items Obama wanted removed. There was resistance, however, from two committee chairman, Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, and the White House has apparently backed down.

As long as more than one state is somehow touched by a proposed deal, the White House greenlights it. In other words, if Nebraska rewrites the Cornhusker Kickback so that one dollar of its Medicaid funds from the feds are donated to Iowa, it's presumably okay.

Since Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi furiously cut deals left and right to squeak ObamaCare through, the president's new position allows for a whole host of kickbacks. Here's the rundown of special deals that are or probably will be in the health care reform package.

-- Connecticut hospitals. Even though Chris Dodd was always a surefire vote for ObamaCare, he still secured $100 million in the bill for Connecticut hospitals. He's particularly enthusiastic about the University of Connecticut, whose teaching hospital he wants revamped. Technically other states can compete for some of the grant money, so Connecticut isn't the sole state affected.

-- Montana asbestos victims. Max Baucus secured another kickback in ObamaCare for victims of asbestos poisoning from a vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana. In order to avoid some of the negative attention that plagued Ben Nelson's Cornhusker Kickback, Baucus cleverly wrote the language as expanding Medicare to cover "environmental health hazards." That can technically apply to all states, so it stays in.

-- Western hospitals. Connecticut isn't the only state whose hospitals will be larded up with health care money. A provision in ObamaCare increases Medicaid funding for states with 50% or more "frontier counties" -- defined as a county with a population density less than six people per square mile. The Congressional Budget Office said this would include Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah. Three of the five are western swing states that Democrats are hoping will lean blue in future elections.

-- Student loans. House Democrats are moving to include a package in ObamaCare that would nationalize student loans. The House already passed the overhaul with 32 more supportive Democrats than ObamaCare. Nancy Pelosi is hoping that tying the two bills together will sweeten the pot for Democrats currently on the fence.

-- Black and Hispanic colleges. Included in the student lending bill is a kickback that would fund historically black and Hispanic colleges and universities. The provision, according to The Hill newspaper, is untouchable thanks to strong support from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The CBC has expressed concern about ObamaCare diverting attention from creating jobs and the CHC is worried about restrictions for illegal immigrants in the bill.

With his announcement today, Obama finally woke up to reality: The only way he can ram his health care boondoggle through is if he buys off legislators. Note that all the deals in the bill are just to woo Democrats.

Two serious setbacks for Obama

It's easy to get discouraged about what Barack Obama is doing, but there's always good news out there too. Today, Obama suffered two crucial defeats that he'll remember for a long time.

First, Craig Becker is a goner. Becker was appointed by Obama to serve on the National Labor Relations Board and his nomination has been tied up in the Senate for months. He's a bona fide pro-unions extremist (always a huge surprise in this administration) who wrote in 1993 that workers should be forced to unionize. Today, Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, announced that he'll join a Republican filibuster of Becker's nomination. With Scott Brown opposing Becker as well, this is one left-wing loony Democrats don't have the votes to confirm.

Second, ObamaCare is all but dead. This news comes with the actual death of Democratic Rep. John Murtha. Murtha was Pennsylvania's longest-serving congressman and may he rest in peace. But without his vote, and thanks to the premature retirement of Rep. Robert Wexler and the defection of Rep. Joseph Cao, Nancy Pelosi doesn't have the votes to ram the health care bill through the House of Representatives again. Of course, never count out the devious Pelosi. But it looks like the drama of ObamaCare, which sent Obama's approval rating into a free fall and got Scott Brown elected in Massachusetts, is mostly over.

Obama disowns another radical with a wink and a nudge

Barack Obama has become the master of a political two-step. Disown radical friends and business partners to the public while soothing their nerves in private.

Last week, SEIU union boss Andy Stern said that opponents of health care reform and card check like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson were "terrorists". Obviously Stern has been feeling the pressure as majorities of the American people turn against his radical liberal agenda. Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs firmly repudiated Stern's comments and said they "make no sense."

It's a pattern with this president. When his friendship with Bill Ayers surfaced during the campaign, he condemned Ayers. When his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright came to light, he gave an entire speech distancing himself. Then several months into his presidency, the White House guest list came out. Ayers and Wright were both on there. The newest offender, Stern, was the most frequent guest.

So the president may pretend to regret Stern's radical comments through his press flack. But no doubt the two of them will remain attached at the hip going forward.

Chicago Politics in the Health Care Bill

Barack Obama's health care bill passed the second of four cloture votes in the Senate this morning and will likely pass entirely during an eleventh-hour vote on Christmas Eve. Polling universally shows that Americans don't support the government power grab. So how did Obama and company rack up the required 60 votes? They used the sort of corrupt pay-to-play politics usually restricted to smoke-wreathed Chicago backrooms, that's how. Here's a list of payoffs from the Washington Post:

"First there was the 'Louisiana Purchase,' $100 million in extra Medicaid money for the Bayou State, requested by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

Then came the 'Cornhusker Kickback,' another $100 million in extra Medicaid money, this time for Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

This was followed by word that Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) had written into the legislation $100 million meant for a medical center in his state. This one was quickly dubbed the 'U Con.'

...

Indeed, the proliferation of deals has outpaced the ability of Capitol Hill cynics to name them.

Gator Aid: Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) inserted a grandfather clause that would allow Floridians to preserve their pricey Medicare Advantage program.

Handout Montana: Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) secured Medicare coverage for anybody exposed to asbestos -- as long as they worked in a mine in Libby, Mont."

Earlier this week, Joe Lieberman revealed that Obama never pressured him to support the public option; instead the president and Rahm basically gave Lieberman whatever he wanted to obtain his support. It was also reported that Ben Nelson was meeting constantly with his friend Obama to hammer out a compromise on abortion. (The compromise ultimately had very little to do with abortion and everything to do with cold hard cash to Nelson's state in the form of Medicaid money.) In other words, the driving force behind these kickbacks was none other than Barack Obama -- which makes perfect sense given his background in Chicago politics.