Yeah, the Interwebs are already grieving the loss of transparency, the one clear win we were really hoping for from Obama. :-(
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jan/05/charlie-crist/gov-charlie-crist-says-obama-breaks-transparency-p/ http://race42008.com/2010/01/06/suddenly-transparency-is-bad/ To be fair, I do think we'll get some useful access to *historical* data: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/08/open-government-directive_n_384018.html But, that's not nearly as important as getting to watch the sausage get made... -- Ernie P. On Jan 6, 2010, at 11:15 AM, [email protected] wrote: > There is a 3 minute video with this article which you would be well advised > to view. It is Obama speaking in crystal clear terms about his intention > to televise the health care negotiations on C-Span. That is, the negotiations > which are now directly ahead of us. There is no ambiguity, Obama made > an absolutely clear promise to televise the negotiations on C-Span. > He gave his reasons, and they are persuasive. > > This is no longer Obama's position, essentially his promise is null and void. > > Now what ? > > > > January 5th, 2010 > > > Obama's C-Span Problem > Posted by Tom Bevan > Brian Lamb has put President Obama on the spot. Lamb is the CEO of C-Span, > and today he wrote a letter to the leaders of Congress asking them to allow > cameras in the room for the final negotiations on the health care bill. Lamb > wrote: > > President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file > members, and the nation's editorial pages have all talked about the value of > transparent discussions on reforming the nation's health care system. Now > that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between > Chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, > through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single > American. > > Indeed, this was one of Obama's signature promises on the campaign trail: > > [ Here is where the video clip is inserted in the article ] > > It's hard to get more explicit than that. > > But that was then. Today, when asked for the 3rd time whether President Obama > believes that the "standard" he set during the campaign for transparency on > health care negotiations is being met by the current process (which now > appears to include bypassing the formal conference process), White House > Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gave a flaccid but telling response. > > "I do not believe the American people have lacked for information on what's > in these bills - the political and policy arguments around different people's > positions - I think that's been well documented," Gibbs said. > > With all due respect, the reporter did not ask Gibbs for his appraisal of > what he thinks the public does and does not know about the health care bills. > Rather, the question is very simple: will President Obama honor his campaign > pledge and demand that the final health care negotiations are televised on > C-Span? Judging from Gibbs' response, the answer is an obvious "no." > > _______________________________________________ > Centroids mailing list: [email protected] > http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com > Archives at > http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
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