Obama promises transparency in government

[Unknown Beatle]

'08 Campaign Speech

Obama risks excessive secrecy

President Obama went to Berlin in 2008 as a presidential candidate and was greeted like a rock star, drawing a crowd of 200,000 for speech. He returned to Germany’s capital last week to speak at the historic Brandenburg Gate and the crowd was 4,500, fewer even than the 6,000 tickets distributed.

The shrunken turnout no doubt reflected the loss of the novelty and expectations that surrounded his 2008 candidacy, a feeling that was particularly strong in parts of Europe that had no love for George W. Bush. But Obama’s muted reception in the city John F. Kennedy electrified with his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech 50 years ago this week seemed to be about more than his fading stardom.

Those who had come to hear Obama five years ago this time delivered a speech to him. It was an oration spoken by their absence. The man who once promised openness and change came to them burdened by a controversy over domestic and international surveillance. It was a controversy heaped upon his earlier anti-terrorism actions that had troubled many in Europe, his failure to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and his use of drones in execute Taliban leaders and al Qaida terrorists.

Americans have tolerated such steps in the name of the war on terror. But the Germans are less inclined to trust government leaders who bend principles and the law in the name of national security. They have known the Nazis and endured the omniscient surveillance of Communist East Germany. They have lost freedom and regained it. They know how easily it can slip away even in an enlightened and democratic country. Perhaps Obama heard the Germans’ silent “nein” to his use of secretive state programs in the name of fighting terrorism, his troubling new version of “Yes we can.” But he doesn’t seem to be affected by it. He seems unfazed by the dangers of secrecy in a democracy. It’s as if he doesn’t grasp how much his involvement with and defense of secrecy is dimming his appeal abroad and staining his legacy at home.

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[msongs]

1. oh you thought he was referring to OUR government lol nt

[Demo_Chris]

2. Obama has promised a lot of things. nt