The Obama Transparency Myth

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Front Page Magazine:

Does it matter how much Americans know about what Obama does? Believing voters wanted to know, Obama in 2008 promised total transparency if elected. Instead, according to revelations at a May 4 House hearing and on so many occasions, Obama has been more opaque than transparent. Most Americans thought he was a man of promise. Instead, he is only a man of promises.

The May congressional hearing was chaired by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla), chairman of the oversight subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee. No one from the White House testified, even though an invitation was sent. At the hearing, even Anne Weismann of the left-wing Center for Responsibility for Ethics in Washington, testified that Obama hasn’t kept his word.

In 2008, voters aged 18 to 29 voted for Obama over McCain by the dramatic imbalance of 66 percent to 32 percent. He promised enthusiastic crowds: transparency, accountability, and participation for all citizens.

Americans will have an internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings in downloadable format. He promised an independent watchdog agency to oversee investigation of ethics violations. He promised a database to disclose what federal contractors spend on lobbying and what contracts they are getting. Health-care hearings will be shown on C-Span., he said. “That’s what I will do in bringing all parties together; no negotiating behind closed doors,” he said on Jan. 21, 2008. But the doors were always tightly shut.