Geee Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Washington Examiner:He won an award for making government more transparent, but President Obama is nowhere near keeping his pledge to "usher in a new era of open government," according to government watchdogs.Obama rode into office two years ago as a self-proclaimed reformer, vowing to kick down the walls of secrecy that defined George W. Bush's presidency.Since then, the president made White House visitor logs public and ordered government agencies to publish information more frequently online. But analysts say the administration's actions have yet to back up the president's flowery campaign rhetoric on openness."There is too much work left to be done to be handing out awards," said Steven Aftergood, a transparency advocate who runs the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project. "Secrecy continues to be a problem, particularly the use of state secrets privilege to halt litigation on controversial topics. Efforts to use the [Freedom of Information] Act are frustrated by delays, incomplete disclosure and a frequent lack of response."Despite such perceived shortcomings, Obama was scheduled to receive an award Wednesday for increasing transparency in government. The award ceremony was going to be open only to a few reporters, though it was the only event the president had Wednesday that wasn't closed entirely to the press. Just minutes before the ceremony was to begin, however, the White House announced it was canceled.The only reason given for the cancellation was a vague "due to changes in the president's schedule." The White House didn't reveal what those changes were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clearvision Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 They canceled any sort of open ceremony for him winning and open government award? Not that it shouldn't have been canceled. That it was even on the calendar still wed. morning with everything else going on is bad enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceRimmer Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 They canceled any sort of open ceremony for him winning and open government award? Not that it shouldn't have been canceled. That it was even on the calendar still wed. morning with everything else going on is bad enough. He and Moochelle are too busy packing up the clothes and golf bag for Rio to be bothered by some award ceremony. Libya, Japan, and the budget are other trivial things that shouldn't interrupt the Obambi's vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casino67 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I am so excited. Can hardly wait. CNNLive CNN Live President #Obama to address #Japan situation at 3:30 pm ET. Watch: http://www.cnn.com/live Getting aid to Japan a 'top priority'. Maybe he will tell us he is going to visit the reactors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanguine Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Obama's openness falling short of campaign promise That's got to be the understatement of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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