You raise a good point. Washington is a bubble. Its a self-enclosed talking circle of politicians, bureaucrats and media.
The lie was for others in the bubble. Not that they necessarily believed the lie either, but rather, to have something they could point to and say: “see - look what the experts have created.”
Someone more educated on the Greek philosophers could correct me, but I think this is right out of Plato, the noble lie. The lie to get people to do the right thing, otherwise they'd be too stupid to do it.