BREAKING: Obama promises completely "open & transparent" government!

[99th_Monkey]

"No More Secrecy!!"

Oh wait, this was in 2008. Never mind.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Thanks for posting!

Only question is: Was he lying then, or has he changed his mind?

[geek tragedy]

3. Candidate says one thing, does another when President!!!!!!

OMG, that never happened before.

[99th_Monkey]

5. To this degree, 180* <-- is breathtaking & noteworthy imho ~nt

[darkangel218]

6. Should we call the Nobel committee again?

[millennialmax]

10. Do as you wish, but when searching for the number, it will be under: Nobel Committee. eom

[darkangel218]

12. Still the same " committee"

:p

[geek tragedy]

7. Then you haven't paid close attention to Presidential history.

Who said it: "I want to be the environmental President."

Who said it: "I'm a uniter not a divider."

Who said it: "The era of big government is over."

[99th_Monkey]

8. "They all do it" <-- in defense of the indefensible eom

[geek tragedy]

9. meh, the realities of governing are a lot different than those

of campaigning.

[99th_Monkey]

13. You mean those "realities" of governing that some have died trying to change

like JFK, RFK, Wellstone, et. al.

Yes, those "realities" (aka the men behind the curtain) do have their
way of corrupting well-meaning officials. No doubt about it.

The question is: do we accept this as "just the way it is" and fawn
approvingly on those who do it, or is it just plain wrong to lie through
their teeth on the campaign trail, with no accountability whatsoever?

[geek tragedy]

18. no, the reality that talk is cheap, and that not all promises will or can be realized nt

[99th_Monkey]

25. But, but .. what about my pony?

Your cynicism only further cheapens said talk.

Is this the way you think our government should be run? by liars
and con-men/women?

[onyourleft]

40. Those who lie to get...

...elected have little integrity.

[cherokeeprogressive]

50. It's been said right here on DU that sometimes you need to lie in order to have the chance

to do good things.

[JoePhilly]

23. Watch the video ... the "candidate" doesn't say what the OP claims.

[darkangel218]

4. We are not spying on American people!!

You are right on the money, monkey99!

[rhett o rick]

11. I think you are just misunderstanding the rhetoric. When he said "we" he meant him and Bo. nm

Of course The Carlyle Group is spying, but not the President and Bo.

[darkangel218]

14. So POTUS has no say in it? lol!!!!!!

Whatever floats your boat!

[rhett o rick]

20. I am beginning to believe he has no say in it.

One should wonder why Pres Obama choose the exact same intelligence agency guys that have been around for a decade. I believe their power transcends presidents. We know Bush didnt tell them what to do. I bet when Pres Obama got into office (or even before) he had a meeting with Gen Alexander and/or Gen Clapper, Herr Mueller, Comey, Hagel, etc. They explained to him how important it was to keep the same intelligence programs and leaders for the safety of the country. I bet they can be very convincing.

Either that or Pres Obama actually supports the current authoritarian state that he inherited.

So the apologists may be right, "It aint Obama's fault."

[darkangel218]

24. I dont believe it.

He has the executive power, regardless of what anyone tells him.
And if you were right, and POTUS was set up and cornered/ forced to say what he said, why couldn't he come out and tell the truth?? Or we don't deserve to know the truth which hides behind the curtains.

[rhett o rick]

45. Without disparaging the President you should be able to see

the predicament he would find himself in. If he tried to make drastic changes to sophisticated intelligence programs he might endanger the country. Who would he trust?

With regard to "executive power" we sure havent seen any evidence so far if he actually has any. Maybe when he pardons the Bush Gang.

[darkangel218]

47. He already has pardoned them. nt

[rhett o rick]

56. No link?

[progressoid]

15. I'd vote for that guy.

[darkangel218]

16. The OP you mean?

[99th_Monkey]

17. Lucy has a football she wants you to kick. eom

[rhett o rick]

46. You sarcasm so noted. I did vote for that guy. I wouldnt vote for the guy we ended up with. nm

[GalaxyHunter]

19. I wanted to believe it, but knew I shouldn't. I was right.

[rhett o rick]

21. Holding an elected official accountable for campaign promises is unAmerican. nm

[JoePhilly]

22. The video you posted does not show what you claim.

If anyone bothers to watch that clip (and its natural to assume that on DU that no one will), its clear that then candidate Obama was talking about increasing transparency within the the legislative process ... and not all aspects of government.

But hey, who cares about the context of what was actually said.

Just grab a few statements from a video, ignore the rest, and create an outrage widget claiming he said that the government would be completely open and transparent when that's not at all what he said.

After all, outrage widgets aren't designed to be accurate. They're designed to generate outrage.

[greatauntoftriplets]

27. Context is everything, isn't it?

[JoePhilly]

29. Not around here these days. nt

[99th_Monkey]

28. Context Shmontext. NSA aside,

"Obama administration now muzzles scientists and experts within federal agencies. When they are allowed to talk about important public health issues, a chaperone often supervises every word. These constraints keep the public from learning whether decisions are science-based or politically motivated.

Consider these few (non-NSA-related) examples:

l After last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists and environmental groups accused the administration of hiding or underreporting the extent of the spill and its impact on the environment. Federal officials frequently deferred to BP in providing data on issues from cleanup workers’ health problems to oil spill flow estimates. The government also placed restrictions on airspace for weeks, keeping media photographers from seeing the scope of the spill.

l The Food and Drug Administration placed an unusual restriction on reporters when announcing changes to its medical device approval process this year. In exchange for providing the information to the media ahead of time, reporters were told they could not seek insights from outside experts before the formal announcement. This ensured the first version of the story contained only the FDA’s official position and ran counter to the way medical journals handle such embargoes.

l In more than a third of requests made for public records last year, the administration failed to provide any information at all, the Associated Press reported. Despite an increase in requests, the Obama administration is releasing fewer records under the Freedom of Information Act than the Bush administration did. And when a response is provided, it often is incomplete or comes years later. The AP noted ironically that the Obama administration even censored 194 pages of internal e-mails about its Open Government Directive."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/wheres-the-transparency-that-obama-promised/2011/03/31/AFipwHCC_story.html

[JoePhilly]

30. Which of those refers to transparency in the legislative process?

Which is what your video refers to directly.

As you say "Context Shmontext" ... the real goal was to generate some outrage.

And it worked.

Well done.

[99th_Monkey]

34. "The legislative process"

In the above video, Obama clearly refers to "government" in its most
generic and inclusive sense (i.e. NSA, CIA, FBI, DEA, etc.) ...
while also (as you point out) referencing congress & lobbyists.

Only cherry picking the "legislative process" part is just that: cherry
picking.

why deny it? there are many many people -- esp. in light of NSA
revelations -- who are clearly alarmed and concerned about the disparity
between promises and performance. Are you not aware of this?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/wheres-the-transparency-that-obama-promised/2011/03/31/AFipwHCC_story.html

[woo me with science]

36. The ugly truth. You should make this an OP. nt

[progressoid]

32. True, he didn't say "completely" as the OP states.

But most every promise in the clip, was broken. Context notwithstanding.

[JoePhilly]

33. An honest OP would have referred to those and provided

sources.

I mean, if he broke most of them (as you claim) certainly there are links to such examples.

And while we're at it ... the GOP says Obama has not been transparent enough on Behngazi ... should we count that one?

[progressoid]

35. This took about two minutes....

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18441.html

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/232/create-a-public-contracts-and-influence-database/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/234/allow-five-days-of-public-comment-before-signing-b/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/238/conduct-regulatory-agency-business-in-public/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/235/require-more-disclosure-and-a-waiting-period-for-e/

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/Blog/2013/07/26/Obama-transparency-promises-disappear-from-transparency-website/4791374863492/

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/06/memos-unveil-how-white-house-worked-with-phrma-to-sell-obamacare/

etc.

Back to work.

[JoePhilly]

37. Hummm ...

Your first link references signing SCHIP and LillyLedbetter after only 2 days or so ... I know the RW hates those, but he promised to sign both as a candidates, I have no issue with him not waiting to sign these ... you?

Second link is very old ... here's a newer source with more up-to-date progress that your source does not yet include.
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/03/08/white-house-launches-ethics-gov/

Third link ... basically repeats the first link and adds only one item, Credit Card Bill of rights ... the BASTARD!!!

If this is what you came up with, its not worth going through more.

You should have taken more time.

[progressoid]

41. Missing the point again.

It's not that he signed them. It's that he said (in the video you said none of us watched) that he wouldn't sign bills for 5 days. With SCHIP, he signed it within 3 hours of the House passing it. Not 5 days.

Frankly, that particular promise was kind of lame to begin with, since it doesn't matter much if the bill sits for 3 hours or 5 days before signing. But you asked for links, so I found some.

The other links deal with lobbyists, back room deals etc. Since you don't want to read them, I won't waste my time finding more.

[great white snark]

26. You sure showed him.

But I'm pretty sure FOX news already ran all the candidate/President Obama inconsistencies.

[Coyotl]

31. Nixon gave politics a rule, "Say whatever it takes to get elected first."

Because, if you don't get elected it does not matter what you said.

[MissDeeds]

38. I don't know whether to laugh

or cry. Oh wait, we voted for him and hoped he'd keep his promises.

[99th_Monkey]

39. That's how I felt too, watching the video. it was painful. nt

[KoKo]

42. But...we are told he really didn't say that...we only heard it and interpreted it

to THINK that he said that. Even with the video...we just didn't listen carefully enough to the "code words" he was signalling that he would do the opposite. It's all the fault of those Professional Lefties... They just distort everything...only hear what they want to hear and then blame everyone for their own faulty observations.

They are Firebaggers and Emoprogs, Paultards and Racist. What else could expect from them.

[99th_Monkey]

43. Yes, I do believe you're 100% correct

I simply didn't hear what I thought I heard. .

Who knew it was so simple?

Note to self: remember that NOW the word "government" ONLY means "legislative branch".

[KoKo]

44. Indeed..

[woo me with science]

48. Candidate Obama debates President Obama on the police/surveillance state.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017124703

[cherokeeprogressive]

53. "No more National Security letters to spy on American Citizens WHO ARE NOT SUSPECTED OF A CRIME."

1:28. Hmmm.

[Marr]

49. Maybe he meant "transparent" as in "invisible". You know, like secret laws. /nt

[Rex]

51. CNN BREAKING: GOVERNMENT PROMISES TO DO BETTER!

[Ed Suspicious]

52. Stay out of the darkness Mr. President. Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant. Very well said sir!

[Warren DeMontague]

54. Mind you, they will need to take special, extraconstitutional measures to KEEP YOU SAFE FROM TERRRUR

[cherokeeprogressive]

55. Who CARES what PO says? He doesn't make those decisions. People like Sen. Feinstein do.

Hey Diane... How did you vote on the Obama Administration's plan to arm Syrian rebels?

"It's classified."