PAUL RAHE: The Great Prevaricator.

In David Maraniss’ largely hagiographical account of Barack Obama’s family and his upbringing, there is a chapter entitled “The Moviegoer,” which deserves careful attention. In it, Maraniss limns one crucial aspect of the man’s character—his propensity to stand back, aloof, and observe his own conduct and that of those about him as if he was the director of a film. He is, in fact, our first postmodern President, and he is always looking in the mirror. He believes that thinking makes things so. He believes that the most important part of the universe within which we live is the imagination. And when things go amiss, he is apt to tell his aides not that he or they have blundered in their deeds, but that they have “lost the narrative.” Everything is always about the man his aides call “Obam-me.” He is the Prophet of “Change We Can Believe In.” Belief is the operative word. . . .

Sooner or later, however, reality bites. Sooner or later, something happens that touches the material interests of individuals in a way they cannot willfully ignore. Sooner or later, something happens that causes all but the most blind partisans to step back, pay attention, and rethink. It is like that moment in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy sees behind the curtain. You and I have long been aware that the country is being conned. We knew that the President was lying when he told Americans on 24 occasions, in no uncertain terms, that they could keep the health insurance that they had. We knew as well that he was perfectly aware that he was peddling a whopper, and everyone in our larger political class knew so as well. The mainstream media knew, and they helped him sell his lies.

The Republicans in Congress knew, which is why, two years ago, they proposed a bill guaranteeing that one could keep one’s insurance and, at a brief moment of strength, forced every single Democrat in both the House and the Senate to go on record voting against it. You may want to think that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are fools, and they are certainly not above criticism. But they do not lack cunning.

The only ones who did not know were the ordinary folks out there. Most of them are relatively apolitical, and they took a certain pride in electing our first black President and were willing to cut him a great deal of slack.

Unfortunately for Barack Obama and the Democrats, reality has begun to bite, and the lies they told are coming back to haunt them.

Indeed they are.