The expiration dates of President Obama’s statements are so glaring and obvious that the mainstream press is starting to notice:

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to take on the drug industry by allowing Americans to import cheaper prescription medicine. “We’ll tell the pharmaceutical companies ‘thanks, but no, thanks’ for the overpriced drugs — drugs that cost twice as much here as they do in Europe and Canada,” he said back then.
On Tuesday, the matter came to the Senate floor — and President Obama forgot the “no, thanks” part. Siding with the pharmaceutical lobby, the administration successfully fought against the very idea Obama had championed.

All statements from Barack Obama come with an expiration date. All of them.

And this has been part of Obama’s modus operandi for years. I noted in 2008 that Obama had spent more time as a declared candidate for higher office in the previous ten years than any other American, including John Edwards. He’s never spent much time in one place building a record; he’s always been looking to the next step and offering the next round of eloquent and grandiose promises.

The campaign rhetoric that stirred the hearts of so many Democrats and independents (and a few Republicans), that offered something fantastic for every constituency and group, that tantalized so many skeptics with a smorgasbord of long-desired reforms — all of it was just a tool to get elected. Say what you have to say, promise what you have to promise, and we’ll worry about the details later.

Well, it’s now later.