| | State of the Union address less than transparent on president's transparency failuresJanuary 30, 2012 - Mike ManevalPresident Barack Obama's State of the Union address last week touched on many topics - energy and natural gas development, manufacturing and job growth, trade, taxes, the successful killing of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, and responsible lending to homeowners, among others. But one topic that did not surface was transparency, and for a reason any voter, with enough cynicism, can understand: On reforming the White House culture of secrecy, the Obama administration is failing, and has been failing consistently for three years. Salon writer Glenn Greenwald - perhaps one of the most effective critics of the administration - was detailing some of the ways the Obama White House already was falling short as early as June, 2009. Greenwald's column noted reports in the New York Times and The Atlantic about Obama's embrace of "state secrets" privileges and a February report in Huffington Post explaining administration efforts to hide White House emails. The efforts to impose secrecy went well beyond matters of national security, Greenwald observed, including efforts to keep the locations of more than 40 coal ash waste sites secret despite the Environmental Protection Agency's claims the sites posed health risks to Americans living in their vicinity. Greenwald further notes on at least two issues - the "state secrets" privileges and efforts to stymie access to White House visitors' logs - Obama was breaking explicit promises made on the campaign trail. Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post, also writing in the summer of 2009, noted another example of the president's failure on transparency - efforts to hide a memo arguing enhanced interrogation techniques were unproductive in securing useful information. And the two years since have seen little - if any - improvement. An opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal found criticism coming from across the reform-minded spectrum, with Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton saying the Obama administration is less transparent than the Bush White House and Anne Weismann of the Center for Responsibility for Ethics in Washington saying, "applications of the (new transparency) policies do not exist." Perhaps no better example of Obama's shortcomings on transparency can be found than a report at the Huffington Post in March of 2011, which began, "President Barack Obama accepted an award for making the government more open and transparent - presented to him behind closed doors with no media coverage or public access allowed." Article Comments(4)MDiemerFeb-01-12 3:18 PM Who does the hiring down at the sun-gazette? My three year old seems more than qualified. . . idiottwoFeb-01-12 8:21 AM addressed this one already? And have you noticed our President isn’t really available to the press? Sure a few town hall meetings loaded with like-minded folks, but real press meetings?, hardly. Imagine for a moment if the old administration participated in fast and furious or was at the helm of the debt issue or unemployment as it stands today. Do you think the reporting and accolades would be the same? What does this say about our media and leaders? It isn’t easy being a leader, but being a true leader means being honest with the facts, confronting tough decisions even when you aren’t popular doing so. I was disappointed in the State of the Union message. Sure it seemed hope, but it seems like more of the same scripted message to get elected and set the stage for the election year rather than where we truly are and what specifically we need to do to get things truly improved. idiottwoFeb-01-12 8:20 AM Mike, it looks to me if you looked at the failed transparency, you would also see some fairly significant issues regarding accuracy and failed policy. I’m baffled and even sickened by the political idealists who spoke so adamantly about the old administrations reported power grabs, Guantanamo detention center, our national debt and the past President’s access to the media are all so deathly quiet now. I actually went on several of what one might think were leading papers this morning, hardly a mention of the national debt that looks to have grown some 65% in 4 years. Does anyone really think this isn’t major news or a concern for every American? There was no correction made or proper addressing of the fast and furious gun sales program that our own Gov officials participated in that introduced guns for illegal sales that has resulted in scores of deaths. A US citizen and police officer killed with one of these guns too. How can this be? How can it be our President hasn’t addres kimberly1969Jan-31-12 8:23 AM Wow Mike, what a transparent piece!! The Huffington Post report has nothing to do with government transparency, as in, who cares about an award like this? It certainly doesn't sound news worthy and thus no media coverage. As far as Greenwald's and Froomkin's column's, they were written almost three years ago at a time when the President was barely in office a few months. Is that the best you can do to support your opinion that Obama has come up short regarding government transparency? Judging by your half baked column, I don't think it's a stretch to think that you were told by your boss to write a story that leans a bit right and thus away from your socialist stance. Instead of this poor attempt, why don't you write a column asking how it was possible that the President received the Nobel Peace Prize almost three years ago at a time when he was barely in office a few months. Come on, you're more than just a paycheck collecting Surveyor, aren't you Mike? Love, Kim Post a Comment | in: News, Blogs & Events Web  |
