Obama’s New Era of Secrecy
As a candidate, Barack Obama swore he would throw open the activities of government to light of public scrutiny. In his inauguration, he swore to disclose everything. As President, he has instituted strict rules of secrecy on White House actions–except those of his predecessors.
Now, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff, no friend of the right, notices the incongruity between Obama’s promises and his actual openess.
He finds that Obama’s openess executive order contains loopholes that the media have ignored until now. For example, the memo requires transparency only “if practicable.” More limiting, transparency applies only to “pending legislation,” not to the White House’s continuing practice legislating by presidential decree.
But Isikoff failed to point out that the White House routine violates the legislation rules. Meetings, memos, and the legislation itself was intentionally hidden from public inspection.
Kudos to Isikoff for having the courage to point out this continuing act of hypocrisy by Obama. Let’s hope he keeps it up after the White House revokes Newsweek’s press passes.
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