During his health care speech last night, President Obama incorrectly guaranteed that no public money would go toward abortion, and that illegal immigrants could not get coverage under his plan. He cannot make either promise, based on the existing legislation.

Obama also made the deeply misleading promise that “not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan.” Of course it won’t. That’s because the Medicare Trust Fund is already running an operating deficit and will do so indefinitely, according to last year’s report from its trustees. Every single dime of the fund, plus some, is going to pay Medicare claims, leaving nothing for any other purpose. It’s as if he just promised that no one will ever get lost in Belgium by driving across the Brooklyn Bridge. As a promise to senior citizens, it is meaningless, deceptive and disingenuous. He still plans to cut Medicare expenditures by half a trillion dollars over ten years, and it’s anyone’s guess whether he can do that without significantly affecting seniors’ care.