Here is a list of 25 claims and statements made by Barack Obama that have been identified as misleading or inaccurate by various fact-checking organizations:
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"If you like your plan, you can keep your plan." This was a key promise of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but it was rated as the "Lie of the Year" by PolitiFact in 2013 because millions of people had their insurance plans cancelled as they did not meet the new standards.1
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"I will not be raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year." While he did not raise income taxes on this group, the ACA included new taxes and penalties, such as the individual mandate penalty, that affected many households below that income threshold.
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"The stimulus has 'saved or created' 150,000 jobs in its first 100 days." This claim was difficult to verify and was criticized for being based on projections and not actual job numbers.2
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"Anybody can buy any weapon, any time without much, if any, regulation...3 They can buy machine guns." This statement, made in 2019, was a gross overstatement of U.S. gun laws, as there are federal regulations, and machine guns have been heavily restricted for civilian purchase since 1986.
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"We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas." This claim from his 2013 State of the Union was a significant exaggeration, as the mileage standards were set to double by 2025, not at the time of his speech.
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"I've approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did." While technically true in terms of raw numbers, the cost of the regulations issued under Obama was significantly higher.4
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"The deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office." This statement was a half-truth, as the Congressional Budget Office projected a deficit of around $1.2 trillion for fiscal year 2009, but much of that was due to the recession and financial crisis that were already underway when he took office.
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"The 'Fast and Furious' operation began under the Bush administration." This was a false claim.5 The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation, which allowed guns to be sold to straw purchasers, was initiated in 2009, during Obama's presidency.
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The Iran nuclear deal involved giving Iran "$150 billion in cash." This was a persistent falsehood. The funds were Iranian assets that had been frozen in foreign banks due to sanctions, and their release was part of the deal. The money was not delivered as a lump sum in cash.
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"The steel industry is producing as much steel in the United States as it ever was.6 It's just (that) it needs one-tenth of the workers that it used to." This claim about steel production levels was inaccurate; U.S. steel production had not returned to its historic peak levels.
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"The president never proposed the sequester." During a 2012 debate, Obama claimed the sequester was not his idea, but it was a result of a negotiation with a Republican-led Congress and was signed into law by him as part of the Budget Control Act.7
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The Benghazi attack was a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video. This claim was widely debunked as evidence showed it was a premeditated terrorist attack.
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"We have put more boots on the border than ever before." While border patrol numbers increased, the number of illegal crossings was already on a downward trend, primarily due to the recession and a lack of jobs in the U.S.
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"There's not a smidgen of corruption" at the IRS regarding the targeting of conservative groups. Obama made this statement before a full investigation was complete, and evidence later showed that the IRS had improperly targeted conservative groups.
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"The 'Middle Class Tax Cut' is the biggest in history." This was a significant exaggeration, as previous tax cuts, such as the one under Ronald Reagan, were much larger in real terms.8
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Mitt Romney would not have provided government assistance to the U.S. auto companies. During a debate, Obama claimed Romney was "very clear" on this, but Romney's position was more nuanced, advocating for a managed bankruptcy with private financing, not necessarily an end to government involvement.
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"My administration has never said there's a problem with the [Keystone XL] pipeline's safety." This was contradicted by State Department reports and internal documents that raised concerns about the pipeline's environmental and safety risks.
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The "Muslim prayer day" at the U.S. Capitol was a White House event. Obama had nothing to do with this event, which was permitted and organized by the U.S. Capitol Police.9
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He "has never said he was a supporter of a single-payer system." This was a false claim, as he had previously voiced support for a single-payer system in the past.10
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"We have provided at least 16 tax cuts to small businesses." PolitiFact rated this "mostly false," noting that many of these were expansions of existing breaks and not new, distinct tax cuts.
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His administration had "excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs." This statement, made in his first State of the Union address, was quickly proven false as his administration had hired several people who were recently registered lobbyists.11
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The "vast majority" of new jobs are in the clean energy sector. This was a misleading statement as the number of jobs created in that sector was a small fraction of overall job growth.
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"Over the last four years, the deficit has gone up, but 90 percent of that is as a consequence of President George W. Bush's policies and the recession." While Bush-era policies and the recession contributed, a significant portion of the increase was also due to Obama's own policies and spending.
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He didn't campaign on a "public option." While he may have softened his position during the campaign, the public option was a major part of his healthcare reform platform and was discussed frequently.
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"Our policy is to keep our troops out of harm’s way, and that’s what we’ve done." This was a statement made during his presidency that was contradicted by the deployment of U.S. troops in various combat zones, including in Afghanistan and against ISIS.
