http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/460296/the_cheney_like_secrecy_of_the_obama_white_house
The Cheney-Like Secrecy of the Obama White House
Those of us who proposed the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney
for violating his oath of office and engaging in a Nixon-on-steroids
spree of high crimes and misdemeanors began to recognize the abusive
nature of the previous administration when Cheney refused to release
details of the industry insiders with whom he met to craft energy policies.
The refusal of the Bush-Cheney administration to permit public review of
White House visitor logs detailing who was meeting with the vice
president's energy task force during the very first weeks of their
tenure was a deliberate decision made to cloak dirty dealing by
officials who were determined to serve corporate rather than public
interests.
It also provided an early indicator that darker and dirtier deeds would
eventually be done by Cheney and his compatriots. And they were.
So what should we make of the news that the Obama administration is now
refusing to release White House visitor logs that detail meetings
between members of the new administration and health-care industry insiders?
As Sharon Theimer, of The Associated Press, notes:
(The) administration's multibillion-dollar deals with hospitals and
pharmaceutical companies have been made in private, and the results were
announced after the fact. Both industries promised Obama cost savings in
return for an expanded base of insured patients; beyond that, the public
is in the dark about details.
In some ways, it resembles what his party criticized President
George W. Bush for doing with oil and gas companies as Vice President
Dick Cheney wrote a national energy plan in the early days of the Bush
administration.
As the Bush White House did, the Obama White House is refusing to
release visitor logs that would let people see everyone going in and out
during the thick of discussions over major national policies.
There is a lot of talk about the fact that Obama has broken a campaign
promise.
That's serious.
But far more serious is the perpetuation of practices of official
secrecy that characterized the Bush-Cheney den of iniquity.
When administrations begin to enjoy the benefits of operating in the
dark, they become disinclined to end the practice. They also begin to
buy into the fantasy that keeping details from Congress and the people
is the only way to get things done, as did Obama White House spokesman
Reid Cherlin when he tried to explain away a lack of transparency by
saying: "Here's what's happening: Groups that have steadfastly opposed
reform in the past are coming to the table and making concessions --
because they know we can't wait another year to pass health insurance
reform."
Actually, bad players are embracing bad compromises because they have
made bad deals with the White House.
And, make no mistake, more bad things will happen.
Only whack jobs who believe that Barack Obama was birthed in Jakarta
could imagine that this administration might ever be as corrupt as its
predecessor. Bush and Cheney achieved Warren Harding levels of official
crookedness.
But that should not be the standard.
Official secrecy, especially when it involves meetings by White House
aides and representatives of corporate interests that face government
regulation, is corrosive. It warps the official agenda and undermines
the system of checks and balances -- making the legislative branch a
weak second to a unitary executive.
Barack Obama promised when he sought the presidency to usher in a new
era of openness and transparency. "We'll have the negotiations televised
on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of
their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug
companies or the insurance companies," candidate Obama declared at a
Pennsylvania campaign stop two months before the 2008 election.
Now, he is doing the opposite.
Worse yet, he is perpetuating the foul practices of the most corrupt
administration in American history.
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