How does Barack Obama define “transparency”?
Well, according to the Associated Press – which is not exactly known for its unrelenting attacks on the Obama administration – Obama & Co. must have a very unusual view of the term. According to Ted Brillis and Jack Gillum\’s article:
Moreoften than ever, the administration censored government files oroutright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom ofInformation Act, cited more legal exceptions it said justifiedwithholding materials and refused a record number of times to turnover files quickly that might be especially newsworthy, according toa new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
Mostagencies also took longer to answer records requests.
Thegovernment\’s own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six yearsshow that halfway through its second term, the administration hasmade few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records. Incategory after category – except for reducing numbers of old requestsand a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees – thegovernment\’s efforts to be more open about its activities last yearwere their worst since President Barack Obama took office.
Translation: this sorry, dishonest administration has never been transparent. And its lack of transparency is becoming even worse.
Why do you suppose “Mr. Transparency” and his people are withholding so much information? Because it shows them in a positive light?
And what do you think media would have been saying about the lack of transparency – not just in one article during his sixth year in office but right from jump street – if the President had been Bush instead of Obama?
Now: when does the Associated Press, and so many others in mainstream media who have looked the other way all this time, start demanding the release of this information?
Are they that deep in the tank for Mr. Obama? Is it that they have so assiduously buried major scandals – such as Operation Fast and Furious, the IRS\’s suppression of Obama critics, etc. – that obtaining said information would make them look like a bunch of lapdogs and fools for not reporting about them all this time?
I\’ll leave it for you to decide. I already know what I think the answer is.
