The President of the United States, in an email sent out this week, is encouraging his supporters to fight lies. But, if President Obama is serious about honesty in politics, he should begin with his own administration and past claims.

As a candidate for the office he now holds, Barack Obama pledged to use the public financing system for his campaign if his GOP opponent offered to do the same. McCain, whose record is one of (perhaps sometimes wrongheaded attempts at) honesty in campaign finance, agreed. Obama’s bluff was called, and the controversy was quietly forgotten. If President Obama is serous about ending lies, he should pledge now to unilaterally adhere to public financing rules when seeking reelection in 2012.

Obama the candidate for the office he now holds took a tough line against lobbyists. Yet, as president, he continues to hire them, manufacturing loopholes to justify their employ. A “no more lobbyists” pledge would be nice, but something far more concrete would be for the President to dissolve more formally his campaign organization, a pressure group in its own right. Indeed, the idea of the Democratic Party being a big tent movement seems to be something Obama and company want to change. Leftist organizations, including the Democratic Party, should stop campaigns against its own members of Congress whose only offense is independence from the party line.

Furthermore, if the President intends for a costly public health care option to foster greater, rather than less, competition in the health care marketplace, then he should promise to only sign a bill wherein members of Congress and their families are required to participate in that government-financed and run option. As it is, even with the right to see the Capitol doctor, and the right to use the Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval hospitals, members of Congress and their families buy and hold private health care plans. President Obama could foster greater confidence in the American people if their representation in each house of Congress were required to practice what they preach.

If President Obama is serious about breaking his away from previous administrations, then he should not be continuing many of the controversial security policies of his predecessor. Even with the plan to close Guantanamo, the Obama administration is retaining the policies which led to the use of that facility, and thus far intends to keep many of the prisoners now held there. The President of the United States should cease pretending to be a civil libertarian, and be more straightforward with the American people, particularly with respect to the legacy of the Bush administration.

Of course, if Obama was honest about the legacy of the Bush administration, then he would not be so enthusiastic about the “Cash for Clunkers” car ownership program. Even from an environmental policy perspective, trading in one gas guzzler for a car guzzling only slightly less gas is bad public policy. Then again, if such environmental groups were honest, they would oppose illegal immigration and the welfare state as fervently as they do usage of fossil fuels.

President Obama is right that there are lies about current policy proposals circulating among the American people. However, he should also address his own role in the propagation of said lies. This administration has the chance to lead by example, but has chosen to do otherwise. Such is not change we can believe in.

Last 5 posts by James Kane

• A November to Remember - November 8th, 2010
• On hope and fear - October 18th, 2010
• Expecting Different Results - September 12th, 2010
• A glaring omission on Iraq - August 31st, 2010
• Employing a losing strategy - August 7th, 2010