Obama Promised The Most Transparent Presidency In History – His Administration Has Been Anything But

A Transparent Failure

Posted May 14, 2013

Obama Promised The Most Transparent Presidency In History
 – His Administration Has Been Anything But




Obama: “My Administration Is Committed To Creating An Unprecedented Level Of Openness In Government.” (President Barack Obama, “Memorandum For The Heads Of Executive Departments And Agencies: Transparency and Open Government,”

Press Release, 1/21/09)

Obama: “Let Me Say It As Simply As I Can: Transparency And The Rule Of Law Will Be The Touchstones Of This Presidency.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks By The President In Welcoming Senior Staff And Cabinet Secretaries To The White House , Washington, DC, 1/21/09)

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney: “We Are The Most Transparent Administration In History, Without Question.” (Jay Carney, White House Press Briefing, Washington, DC, 9/28/11)

Obama : “I Won’t Stop Fighting To Open Up Government.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At A Town Hall Meeting, Elyria, OH, 1/22/10)

Obama: “But I Can Tell You We Have Put In Place The Toughest Ethics Laws And Toughest Transparency Rules Of Any Administration In History. In History.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At A Town Hall Meeting, Elyria, OH, 1/22/10)

Obama’s Justice Department Used A “Secret Subpoena” To Obtain Phone Records From Reporters

The Associated Press Headline: “Gov’t Secretly Obtained AP Phone Records In Probe” (Mark Sherman, “Gov’t Secretly Obtained AP Phone Records In Probe,” The Associated Press, 5/13/13)

Obama’s Justice Department Used A “Secret Subpoena” To Obtain Phone Records For Associated Press Reporters And Editors “Without Notifying The News Organization.” “The Justice Department used a secret subpoena to obtain two months of phone records for Associated Press reporters and editors without notifying the news organization, a senior department official tells NBC News, saying the step was necessary to avoid ‘a substantial threat to the integrity’ of an ongoing leak investigation.” (Michael Isikoff, “‘Nixonian’? The Justice Department Secretly Collected AP Reporters’ Phone Records,” NBC News, 5/13/13)

“Anti-Secrecy Watchdogs Also Criticized The Move.” “Anti-secrecy watchdogs also criticized the move. ‘I’ve never heard of a dragnet collection effort against a media organization like this,’ said Stephen Aftergood, who tracks secrecy issues for the Federation of American Scientists. ‘This was not a targeted monitoring of an individual reporter. It’s a sweeping collection of an entire bureau’s communications.’” (Michael Isikoff, “‘Nixonian’? The Justice Department Secretly Collected AP Reporters’ Phone Records,” NBC News, 5/13/13)

NBC’s Chuck Todd: “Its Chilling … They Owe Us An Explanation.” NBC’s CHUCK TODD: “It’s chilling and I guess they owe us an explanation, but it’s absolutely chilling because the broad scope of what they subpoenaed in going after phone records.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 5/14/13)

National Journal ‘s Ron Fournier: The Department Of Justice’s Phone Record Seizure Is “Chilling” And “Stupid.” NATIONAL JOURNAL’s RON FOURNIER: “I used to be the bureau chief of the Washington bureau. I’ll say two things. One, this is chilling. This is only meant to intimidate whistleblowers who want to get out embarrassing information about the administration and to intimidate reporters. This is only to clamp down on information that might embarrass the president. That’s all this is about. Secondly, not only is it chilling, it is stupid.” (MSNBC’s ” Morning Joe,” 5/14/13)

Four Days Into The Scandal, Americans Are Still Waiting For All The Facts From Obama On The IRS Scandal

The Washington Post Editorial, On The IRS Scandal: “The Administration Should Provide Complete Answers, And Soon.” “Who else knew about the targeting? In subsequent testimony, IRS leaders assured lawmakers that no one did. Were they ignorant or deliberately untruthful? Did they even ask before reporting to Congress? … Considering that Ms. Lerner seems to have known about the targeting by 2011, did the IRS ever plan on revealing that it had singled out conservative groups? Or was it only the impending release of the inspector general’s report that compelled agency officials to ‘fess up? The administration should provide complete answers, and soon.” (Editorial, “The IRS’s Turn To Answer Questions,” The Washington Post , 5/13/13)

The IRS Delivered Confidential Documents From The Groups It Targeted To ProPublica Which Contradicts Earlier Statements Made By The IRS And “May Represent A Violations Of Federal Guidelines.” “ProPublica on Monday reported that the same IRS division that targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny during the 2012 election cycle provided the investigative-reporting organization with confidential applications for tax-exempt status. That revelation contradicts previous statements from the agency and may represent a violation of federal guidelines. Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS sector that reviews tax-exemption applications, told a congressional oversight committee in April 2012 that IRS code prohibited the agency from providing information about groups that had not yet been approved.” (Josh Hicks, “IRS Released Confidential Info On Conservative Groups To ProPublica,” The Washington Post, 5/14/13)