Do the liberals who give him these awards have any shame? They just gave the most secretive administration in history an award for transparency. President Obama finally and quietly accepted his âtransparencyâ award from the open government community this week â in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday. The secret presentation happened almost two weeks after the White House inexplicably postponed the ceremony, which was expected to be open to the press pool. This time, Obama met quietly in the Oval Office with Gary Bass of OMB Watch, Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive, Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight, Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Patrice McDermott of OpenTheGovernment.org, without disclosing the meeting on his public schedule or letting photographers or print reporters into the room. âOur understanding going into the meeting was that it would have a pool photographer and a print reporter, and it turned out to be a private meeting,â Bass told POLITICO. âHe was so on point, so on target in the conversation with us, it is baffling why he would not want that message to be more broadly heard by reporters and the public interest community and the public generally.â Just hours before the White House put off the original event, White House press secretary Jay Carney was defiant in his defense of Obamaâs transparency record against criticism that it might have been premature. âThis president has demonstrated a commitment to transparency and openness that is greater than any administration has shown in the past, and heâs been committed to that since he ran for President and heâs taken a significant number of measures to demonstrate that,â Carney said in a testy exchange with Fox News reporter Wendell Goler on March 16. The transparency advocates who presented the award to Obama say that the recognition is important, because despite the work left to be done, Obama has done a lot to change the governmentâs posture toward openness issues. But others believed the positive reinforcement was more than a little unnecessary. âI donât feel moved today to say âthank you, Mr. President,ââ said Steve Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. But he said he understands the award to be âaspirational,â in recognition of Obamaâs potential to do more on the transparency front. âAnd in that sense, one could say it resembles the award at the Nobel Peace Prize,â Aftergood said. âItâs not because Obama brought peace to anyone but because people hoped he would be a force for good in the world, and maybe thatâs the way to understand this award.â http://www.politico.com/politico44/...98-0d9e-4822-8936-168f3a51b959.html#replyform
The Democratic administration of Barack Obama, who denounced his predecessor, George W. Bush, as the most secretive in history, is now denying more Freedom of Information Act requests than the Republican did. Transparency and openness were so important to the new president that on his first full day in office, he dispatched a much-publicized memo saying: âAll agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open government. The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA.â One of the exemptions allowed to deny Freedom of Information requests has been used by the Obama administration 70,779 times in its first year; the same exemption was used 47,395 times in Bushâs final budget year. An Associated Press examination of 17 major agenciesâ handling of FOIA requests found denials 466,872 times, an increase of nearly 50% from the 2008 fiscal year under Bush. As Ed Morrissey notes on the blog Hot Air, during a time of war and terrorist threats, any government can justify not releasing some sensitive information. And true, Obama had previously been a legislator, not an executive. But why make such a big campaign deal over a previous administrationâs secrecy when youâre going to end up being even more secretive? On March 16 to mark annual Sunshine Week, designed to promote openness in government, Obama applauded himself by issuing a statement: âAs Sunshine Week begins, I want to applaud everyone who has worked to increase transparency in government and recommit my administration to be the most open and transparent ever.â However, a new study out March 15 by George Washington Universityâs National Security Archive finds less than one-third of the 90 federal agencies that process such FOIA requests have made significant changes in their procedures since Obamaâs 2009 memo. So, a day later, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sent out yet another memo. Since the agencies ignored the memo from the president, theyâll all snap to when the stafferâs note arrives, donât you think? http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/obama-becomes-most-secretive-president-in-history/blog-335291/
Yeah i think your right on that, and the other thing i find amazing is that anti-war presidents end up getting into wars and adding troops to wars etc. etc. It sure makes one wonder who is really pulling the strings out there, and what these guys end up learning once they get elected which causes them to do a complete 180.
The left/right dichotomy's main usefulness, and that's still not a lot, is for understanding domestic policy. It is useless for understanding foreign policy.