My Greatest Fear: Unmasking My Facade

Reluctantly, I can accept President Trump's reversing my regulatory imprint. I can even accept his ramping up America's military might. 

But I cannot accept ─ and even fear ─ my unmasking.

I am troubled by the eventual unmasking of what I did and inspired.

I do not want to be Richard Nixon reincarnate. Nixon is remembered most with his insistent "I am not a crook" defense. (1973)

Or be seen as a Bill Clinton with his deceptive, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." (2006)

And now, it's my turn - perhaps with "I'm not a liar" or one of the possibles I've listed below.

I've been lucky so far with my team falling on the sword for me. I've only had to take the lead on a few occasions and the results were embarrassing.

Let's look at the record and you can see what really bothers me.

Lie of the Year
I was caught in a lie when I said that you can keep your doctor if you wanted in my Affordable Care Act.
Jonathan Gruber, the architect of the ACA, kind of fell on the sword for me when he said it would pass because the American public was too stupid and that we could avoid transparency. That's his bad, not mine.

Still, I got stuck with the lie of the year in 2013.

The Lie about Benghazi
I spoke at the United Nations and said the attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was the result of a disgusting anti-Muslim video. I did not mention a planned terrorist attack. That, of course, is not true. 

Hillary gave me away when her emails were released. Her call to Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil: “We know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack — not a protest.”

Susan Rice fell on the sword for me on several Sunday morning talk shows saying it was about the anti-Muslim video. Ben Rhodes, her assistant, crafted an excellent campaign of misdirection in how we should manipulate the public.

We were just entering the 2012 Presidential campaign. We all needed to lie about what happened in Benghazi. We were fortunate that Mitt Romney caved and did not pursue our Benghazi failure and cover-up.

The Not-a-Smidgen-of-Corruption Lie: Politicizing the IRS
Lies take on many forms. The better ones use the hand of others. It has a nice sound in Spanish ─ la mano ajena. Lois Lerner did amazing things at the IRS to go after the Tea Party non-profits, to hold up their certifications as tax exempt. She stonewalled Congress and then retired. If she'd gotten convicted, I would have pardoned her. That was not breaking the law, but righteous partisanship. 

I did my best when I defended her and said there was not a smidgen of corruption to what she was doing. My winning smile beguiled the news media and my loyal following. What a royal lie.

Unmasking Americans
I was careless when my team went after the news media - there was that reporter James Rosen and the Associated Press. 

I was much better by using the National Security Advisor to pretend there was a security threat so we could see behind the closed privacy doors. Of course, these peaks into the Trump campaign went beyond the normal justification of checking out security threats.

I'll say the same things that Rice is saying ─ it wasn't political, it was just a normal investigation. Since my sycophants don't read the Wall Street Journal, they won't realize that advisors like John Bolton in the Bush State Department was tasked to investigate, but Rice was not. Hers was extracurricular. But who's to know? And then there was my Executive Order 12333 to disseminate gossip throughout the intel community. Pretty brilliant.

The Long View of History

There are many more lies I told, but these are the ones that are likely to get me remembered as a Nixonian President.

Truth is, I am not a liar ─ which is what they'll say at my presidential center in Chicago. That will be the empire to my legacy.

Maybe Susan Rice or Lois Lerner lied, but not me. Maybe Ben Rhodes or Harry Reid lied, but not me.

Fortunately, most Americans are not well informed. There was a telling campus report where things I did were attributed to Trump by the interviewer. The students criticized my actions simply because they thought they were Trump's. How little they pay attention. The major news media is my best salvation -- they'll keep up my facade and hide the deception within. Scandal free and a rising star.

Listening to my echo

I've been challenged for many reasons - the most annoying is that I'll even do things that I say that I won't do.  Immediately after saying that I won't. Like when I said that I wouldn't try to influence the British vote on whether to leave the European Union. And then I kind of threatened them with the consequences. Ha!

Could that be true?  And, if it is, what does that mean? 

I suppose I might meditate on the words of  Dejan Stojanovic.

But there are more important considerations to examining my words. Do you hear that historians of my legacy?

There was my biggest whopper:  "No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period."  That helped pass the Affordable Care Act. And now it begins to crumble. But I won't be here to take the blame. 

I've massaged the truth in getting the Iran nuclear deal passed - even if I had to ramp up criticism on Israeli leaders.

If you google "Bush lies," you get about 49,000 hits. BUT if you google "Obama lies," you get almost 360,000 hits. 

Of my five biggest lies, I like the one about amnesty: "I am not a dictator." Because I did exactly that through my personal executive power.

Or take a look at my State of the Union address - I just couldn't help myself. 

Why do I do that?

Now, that is where historians should begin any discussion of my legacy.