Defining Obama transparency
Transparency is a word that wasn’t used a whole lot up until a couple of years ago. Convinced Bush and his cronies were making all the important decisions behind closed doors, Obama started preaching about the need for transparency. A lot of people took it to mean that if elected, Obama would open his doors to anyone so that they could see how honest and forthright he truly was. Very quickly Obama assured people that’s not what he had in mind. The culmination of that was Joe Biden having a meeting on transparency. That meeting of course, was closed to the media. People immediately started saying things to the effect of “WTF”. How can you possibly have a closed door meeting on transparency. It’s simple. Let’s go back to what Obama actually said about transparency:
I do not believe that government should stand in the way of innovation, or turn back the clock to an older era of regulation. But I do believe that government has a role to play in advancing our common prosperity: by providing stable macroeconomic and financial conditions for sustained growth; by demanding transparency; and by ensuring fair competition in the marketplace.
No guarantees he would be transparent there.
We must investigate rating agencies and potential conflicts of interest with the people they are rating. And transparency requirements must demand full disclosure by financial institutions to shareholders and counterparties.
No guarantees he would be transparent there.
I fought in the Senate for the most extensive ethics reform since Watergate. I have refused contributions from federal lobbyists and PACs. And I have laid out far-reaching plans that I intend to sign into law as President to bring transparency to government, and to end the revolving door between industries and the federal agencies that oversee them.
He doesn’t say WHICH government he expects to be transparent now does he?
In the more than two centuries since then, we have struggled to balance the same forces that confronted Hamilton and Jefferson – self-interest and community; markets and democracy; the concentration of wealth and power, and the necessity of transparency and opportunity for each and every citizen.
He clearly states that he expects YOU to be transparent as a citizen. However, as Clinton clearly demonstrated, Presidents are not citizens.
So, there you have it. Obama said he expected business to be transparent, citizens to be transparent, some agencies to be transparent, and some government to be transparent. He never stated HE would be transparent, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, or Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t be either. So, having closed door meetings to discuss transparency makes all the sense in the world. If anyone infers otherwise, Obama supporters will think of clever insults to taunt you.
