Glad to see a cartoon not dealing with Cruz. A few addressing the President’s Iran negotiations and the Bergdahl tragedy. But this cartoon deals with an issue that upsets me.In 2008, and before, Mr. Obama was a loud opponent to Mr. Bush’s many policies reducing and removing various privacy and accountability issues. As a candidate, he promised transparency and a repeal of gov’t eavesdropping and covert observations of US citizens on US soil.Not only did those promise vanish within seconds of completing his oath of office, but he also began moves to increase various aspects of these practices.Now he is further protecting himself by embracing this policy first introduced by his predecessor, a man he often vilified for abusing the rights and freedoms of the American People.I have some sympathy for Mr. Obama. He has been blocked on every action, even those once introduced by Republicans, and he has been subjected to a level of disrespect from the legislature unprecedented prior to his administration.There is little he can do about that, but on the issue of transparency and honoring FoIA requests, he could have chosen the high ground and kept his promises for the reasons he gave when running for office in the first place.Respectfully,C.
I agree. Obama does not seem sufficiently forthcoming on this. That said, I’d have to know if he’s dealing with a normal flow of such requests, or if they multiplied suddenly in January of 2009.
I want “open” government, but I’ve also seen a couple of these FOIAs that are totally ludicrous in their requests, and some were aimed at getting classified information, information classified by the BUSH administration! NOT all government documents are subject to FOIA btw.
The worst offenders on rejecting I saw were Reagan’s staff folks, terrible, refused all requests, or delayed, delayed, delayed. Clinton’s folks were good, "W"’s back to Reagan, and Obama actually seems to be in between.
I am concerned that whistleblowers aren’t getting properly listened to, having been one on many occasions.
ConserveGov about 9 years ago
“The MOST transparent…..
chazandru about 9 years ago
Glad to see a cartoon not dealing with Cruz. A few addressing the President’s Iran negotiations and the Bergdahl tragedy. But this cartoon deals with an issue that upsets me.In 2008, and before, Mr. Obama was a loud opponent to Mr. Bush’s many policies reducing and removing various privacy and accountability issues. As a candidate, he promised transparency and a repeal of gov’t eavesdropping and covert observations of US citizens on US soil.Not only did those promise vanish within seconds of completing his oath of office, but he also began moves to increase various aspects of these practices.Now he is further protecting himself by embracing this policy first introduced by his predecessor, a man he often vilified for abusing the rights and freedoms of the American People.I have some sympathy for Mr. Obama. He has been blocked on every action, even those once introduced by Republicans, and he has been subjected to a level of disrespect from the legislature unprecedented prior to his administration.There is little he can do about that, but on the issue of transparency and honoring FoIA requests, he could have chosen the high ground and kept his promises for the reasons he gave when running for office in the first place.Respectfully,C.
Cerabooge about 9 years ago
And let’s not forget the persecution of whistleblowers. “Worse than Bush” is not exactly the description most people would want to leave office with.
Odon Premium Member about 9 years ago
Anyone know if the number of info requests spiked during the last six years?
Kip W about 9 years ago
I agree. Obama does not seem sufficiently forthcoming on this. That said, I’d have to know if he’s dealing with a normal flow of such requests, or if they multiplied suddenly in January of 2009.
Dtroutma about 9 years ago
I want “open” government, but I’ve also seen a couple of these FOIAs that are totally ludicrous in their requests, and some were aimed at getting classified information, information classified by the BUSH administration! NOT all government documents are subject to FOIA btw.
The worst offenders on rejecting I saw were Reagan’s staff folks, terrible, refused all requests, or delayed, delayed, delayed. Clinton’s folks were good, "W"’s back to Reagan, and Obama actually seems to be in between.
I am concerned that whistleblowers aren’t getting properly listened to, having been one on many occasions.