ACCURACY

As a self-absorbed and overly ambitious young lawyer, Fletcher Reede has a habit of giving precedence to his employer, breaking promises to his young son, Max, and then lying to both.  Soon Max (showing us once again that age and wisdom do not necessarily accompany one another) wishes before blowing out the candles that his father would be incapable of lying for a period of 24 hours.  The resulting, fictitious tale, starring Jim Carrey in “Liar Liar,” borders on hilarity.  An inability to deceive can at times be comically inconvenient.

All right, friends.  It is time to make a critical distinction:  there is difference between lying and simply being wrong.

When Reede tells his son he missed his birthday celebration because he had to work late - when instead he was engaged in copulation with a woman significant to future professional promotion - that is deceit.  That is a lie.

But to lie means to intentionally mislead.  We can lie by purposely articulating falsehoods - or by purposely omitting truth, truth which would impact the public’s otherwise accurate perception.

Years ago, many of us were grievously disgruntled when no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.  The valid rationale for that grievance is that the existence of WMD’s was offered as a primary reason for invasion.  So the question is did the Bush and Clinton administrations - both of whom publicly acknowledged WMD’s during their tenure - did they lie to us? 

Or... let me ask the unpopular question... were they simply wrong?  Let us not diminish the error.    Being “wrong” may well qualify as foolish, idiotic, and/or ignorant.  Being “wrong,” however, is not immoral.   If being “wrong” is iniquitous, then arguably the integrity of each of us in jeopardy.  

This past Sunday, Vice President Biden was asked by George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s "This Week," how he could explain the inaccurate forecasting utilized as motivation to pass the economic stimulus package.  When the Obama administration urged passage of the stimulus plan at the beginning of this year, they claimed that with the stimulus, unemployment would peak at 8 percent in 2009; whereas without the stimulus, unemployment would rise to 9 percent in 2010. (See page 5 of "The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.")  We're still in 2009 and unemployment has already reached 9.5 percent.  Biden’s explanation was, “We misread how bad the economy was.”

So the question is, when the administration was initially drumming up support for the stimulus package, did they lie to us?  Or were they simply wrong?  Being wrong is not unethical.

While the verdict remains out in regard to the success of the stimulus package (and thus should serve as significant pause in regard to enacting a second package), there is no evidence that anyone in the Obama administration knowingly lied to us.  

Watch.  Pay attention.  Give each administration your respect.   Seek that accurate perception.

AR