So much for transparency
posted at 11:43 am on February 18, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Remember Barack Obama’s pledge to make this the Most Transparent Administration Evah? Josh Gerstein at Politico notices a few items that seem to have slipped by the national media, thanks to a lack of openness on the part of Obama’s communications team. Obama issued three executive orders and a handful of regulations without ever announcing them:
In his first weeks in office, President Barack Obama shut down his predecessor’s system for reviewing regulations, realigned and expanded two key White House policymaking bodies and extended economic sanctions against parties to the conflict in the African nation of Cote D’Ivoire.
Despite the intense scrutiny a president gets just after the inauguration, Obama managed to take all these actions with nary a mention from the White House press corps.
The moves escaped notice because they were never announced by the White House Press Office and were never placed on the White House web site.
They came to light only because the official paperwork was transmitted to the Federal Register, a dense daily compendium of regulatory actions and other formal notices prepared by the National Archives. They were published there several days after the fact.
What got missed? One executive order expanded the National Economic Council to 25 members, and the additions are certainly intriguing. Obama appointed the open HHS Secretary to the NEC, as well as Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Two other appointments should have provoked some controversy: “climate czar” Carol Browner and adviser Valerie Jarrett, last mentioned in the Blagojevich scandal. Adding a “climate czar” to an economic council sends the signal that Obama takes the global-warming issue a lot more seriously than he does the economy — which is probably why the White House buried that EO.
Another EO halted review of regulations in federal agencies, pending the installation of a new review process. That seems less controversial, as most administrations have their own regulatory procedures. However, since the EO stopped review altogether, transparency would have called for disclosure of that fact and of the EO itself.
Most Transparent Administration Evah? More like the same old, same old.
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Good question! I’ve heard not one mention of Immelt and this appointment except by BOR. Obama appoints another loser. How much is GE stock right now?
Knucklehead on February 18, 2009 at 1:39 PM
We need a blog for this kind of stuff and I have a name for it…..Under The Radar and Broken Pledges. I’d login everyday.
pjean on February 18, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Guess we’re gonna have to do shifts as Federal Register watchdogs.
misslizzi on February 18, 2009 at 1:43 PM
If nobody knows about the lie and nobody cares about the lie, is it a lie?
This is the foundation of governing by Obama.
albill on February 18, 2009 at 1:44 PM
He of the solid mid-ranger jumper. You can’t have too many decent small forwards on any team.
MarkT on February 18, 2009 at 1:50 PM
There are obviously plenty of people who both know and care. That group just doesn’t include a single member of BO’s voting block, which includes his personal horde of sycophantic media hacks.
Wingo on February 18, 2009 at 1:55 PM
All he had to do was flash his chiseled pecs and the press corp swooned! By the time they came to the signing was done.
BoSox_or_Bust on February 18, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Let’s hope this is an opportunity for another Tapper-Gibbs smackdown.
eeyore on February 18, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Makes you wonder what else is being hidden.
canditaylor68 on February 18, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Whatdya bet the next executive order is to eliminate “the Federal Register, a dense daily compendium of regulatory actions”?
KS Rex on February 18, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Government by Executive Order, and no one alerts the media? Who needs Congress anyway?
On your knees everyone! (trumpet fanfare!)
All Hail His Majesty Hussein the First!
Anyone for a tea party in southern Lake Michigan?
Steve Z on February 18, 2009 at 2:07 PM
F’n lots. Guaranteed.
mr.blacksheep on February 18, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Perhaps we should suggest the old standard “reading is fundamental program” for the bozos that passed this without reading it. What if some idiot put in to start to fund terrorism projects… no one really knows. And for MR. non-committal president that is still voting present on the campaign trail for this jibberish, maybe he needs to get back to washington……. I know, he hasn’t visited there often…. and get the Al Gore’s internet connected so a copy of this nonsense can be Transparent to the Americans that pay taxes… We all know that the ones that will really benefit only read the backs of government checks they get.
workingforpigs on February 18, 2009 at 3:22 PM
If only it were “same old, same old.” Obama seems to be determined to do even worse.
Aronne on February 18, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Say it with me….. DOW 6000
johnnyU on February 18, 2009 at 9:38 PM
Say it with me….. DOW 6000
johnnyU
If GW were still in office, the MSM would be all over the collapse of the DOW like white on rice. Today the silence is deafening.
Any bets on the future date of some major MSM figure admitting to buyer’s remorse?
SKYFOX on February 19, 2009 at 5:19 AM
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