"linguistics sleight of hand"

Another example of using 'linguistics' in a particular negative context, with a whiff of something ominous about 'linguistics'. Charles Krauthammer accuses Obama of that here:

Look, it's another linguistics sleight of hand here. The backend sounds like some, you know, obscure, curlicue in the process. It's the cash register! It's the point at which you make the purchase. And if you don't have correct information or any information you don't have a purchase, you don't have enrollment, you don't have a plan, you have a catastrophe. And everybody understands that. 

Sounds like he's accusing Obama of deception because he (or his people?) talked about the 'backend' of healthcare.gov in a misleading way. But isn't the use here consistent with what 'backend' normally means in this context? Is there some insidious word game here that I'm missing? He was using language, so it was 'linguistic' in some sense, but I'm not getting the 'sleight of hand'.

And yes, I suppose Obama can "issue all the words he wants". Much like Krauthammer. And Team Verb.