Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Real Transparency in the Obama Administration

President Obama has promised that his Administration would be transparent, meaning that the American people could see how he ran the government. After the relative secrecy of the Bush Administration, this was seen as a breath of fresh air. Finally, we would have an open and honest government!

Since those heady days waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2008, President Obama has closed the doors on a number of meetings, not the least of which being a session with the Senate to talk about the health care bill making its way through that legislative body. The media, traditionally the watchdogs of government, said...nothing.

I'm sure Obama supporters will leap to the President's defense, citing Bush's secrecy, but here's the thing: Bush didn't promise transparency. To bring up Bush as a defense of Obama's lack of transparency is a cop-out. When Obama promised to do things differently than the Bush Administration, a lot of people took him at his word. As time's gone on, however, those words have started to ring hollow as he's started hiding more and more from the American people and enacting the very policies from the Bush Administration that he and his supporters bashed when Bush was President. This has made many Obama voters reconsider their support, as recent approval ratings have shown. Yet, the die-hard Obama voters continue to defend and distort his actions to put him in the most positive light.

Seems the real transparency in the Obama Administration are the excuses for his lack of transparency.

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