Insulting: Small Arkansas company calls Lifeline cell phone product “the Obama phone”

The folks here at FreeGovernmentCellPhones.net are huge supporters of the LifeLine program. We think it’s a wonderful program that helps millions of truly needy Americans.

So we naturally get upset when we see someone doing something that harms the reputation of this fine program.

We recently ran across a small wireless company headquartered in Arkansas that refers to the LifeLine program as the “Obama Phone.” Here’s what they said on their blog:

Free Wireless Obama Phone Lifeline Wireless Government Program

Assist Wireless is proud to offer the free Obama wireless phone or what is formally known as lifeline and linkup government assistance programs.

We know that many individuals refer to the LifeLine program as the “Obama phone,” but we’ve never seen it done by a phone company that participates in the program. This terminology is not only demeaning to the program, it’s just plain inaccurate.

Don’t get us wrong. We’re not taking sides politically. FreeGovernmentCellPhones.net is here to provide you with information, not political opinions. We don’t take sides – except to be on the side of accuracy.

The simple fact is that President Obama has absolutely nothing to do with the LifeLine program, so it’s wrong to call it “the Obama phone.” This pipsqueak phone company should know better and should be ashamed of itself for perpetuating this lie.

Here’s the truth according to the impartial people at FactCheck.org:

The president has no direct impact on the program, and one could hardly call these devices “Obama Phones…”. This specific program … started under President George Bush, with grants from an independent company created under President Bill Clinton, which was a legacy of an act passed under President Franklin Roosevelt, which was influenced by an agreement reached between telecommunications companies and the administration of President Woodrow Wilson.

In other words, they might more correctly be called Bush phones or Clinton phones or Roosevelt phones or even Wilson phones.

But there’s no credit to be taken nor blame to be assigned by referring to this outstanding program as Obama phones.