Government transparency

The best disinfectant

Hopes of “open government” under Barack Obama have been only partly fulfilled

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Readers' comments



ever think he actually did reveal the truth? or perhaps you have some absolute iron-clad evidence that leads you to the conclusion you make that he is lying. If you did, I assume you would be on CNN right now.

If anything a better conspiracy theory is that all this nonsense about his birth certificate is merely a smoke screen to hide the possibility that his citizenship may have been technically surrendered when he went to school in Indonesia. chew on that thought for a while.


Solyndra and corporate boondoggle parties by the GAO. Need we say more?

Bring the mops buckets shop acts and the steam cleaners out too!


Obama has been very open and honest.

Obama said: If you don't buy health insurance we shall put you in jail.

Obama said: If you don't buy your employee a bottle of birth control pills we shall put you in jail.

Some control freeks would try to hide their controlling nature...not Mr. Obama.


Uncle Sam has always been lying.I don't trust it.Mr Barack Obama is a great orator,but he did little in reality.Of course this is not completely his fault,the so-called democracy plays a key role in it.

Anyhow,Mr Barack Obama is a good guy.What America most needs to know is that it should not poke its nose into others' business.

steadybalance in reply to VoiceofDissent

Voice of Dissent, your title indicates that you job is solely to disagree with what is written. Which is cool. But if the sentence seems funny let me break it down a little more.

"Facts" mean data driven metrics that I can see. Information that can not be immediately drawn from that data or which relies on various accounts or interpretations of the information are opinions. Opinions range from the very extreme to more balanced. Usually the more balanced are more accurate because issues are complex and seldom black and white. So I like opinions based on facts or opinions that take into account the complexities of a situation while looking at that situation from multiple views and angles.

Opinions also mean that when new facts are presented they can shift, when you fail to shift your opinions with changing information than your opinion, while still allowed to be spoken, falls on deaf ears, aligns with people who are already ignoring new facts, or is simply thrown away as ridiculous or uninformed or just opinion driven, non-factual drivel.

As an informed, semi-intelligent citizen I get my news from multiple sources and don't have cable TV so CNN, Fox News, MSNBC is not an option to watch and is more boring on the internet. I hope this helps you understand the complex sentence that seemed funny to you. in reply to tryworkingforaliving

Or, alternately:

"You cannot be denied health coverage at a reasonable price"

Unless of course you LIKE the idea that, if your child develops leukemia and you quit your job, you go bankrupt. I don't consider that freedom. Maybe you do.


"Your employer cannot impose its religious views on you in any way"

There are religions that ban blood transfusions too. Frankly, that's none of my employer's ******ed business.

We elect our goverments to serve us, and to protect our rights from criminals, enemies, forces of nature, and the whims of the powerful.


"Mr Obama has indicted six whistleblowers... for leaking information not to a “foreign nation” but to the press."

I'm missing the distinction here. How do I leak government information to the press without also leaking it to a foreign nation? Or does anyone seriously think overt and covert agents of foreign governments do not read articles in the US press?

But I grant you, that is a very poorly worded law.

Conservative Thought

Well given that this "president" continues to not reveal the truth about his birth certificate (Where is it Mr. President?) how can you be surprised that his government isn't open.

He has not been open about the billions of dollars of tax payer money that he invested in Solyndra.

He has not publicly come out and stated that he has been fictitiously been keeping oil prices as high as possible in order to advance his environmental policy.

He has not admitted that he is trying to make America into a socialist European state.

Look at the facts!

Mark S. Oller in reply to hikeandski

You sound like a LIHOPER only more so. Barrack Obama is a ZOG front man born in Kenya, and The United States of America breathed its last gasp when President Nixon resigned. The corpse was blown to smithereens on 9/11/2001. Now, even the word freedom is a totalitarian slogan: freedom fries, Freedom Tower, Operation Desert Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operatation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Afghani Freedom, freedom isn't free, freedom blah blah blah.

Yukon Dave in reply to guest-iweejjs

Please name the court that President Obama sent his Birth Certificate. Please site the source. You will find you will not be able to do that because it has never been sent to any court in the United States. He has spent million of taxpayer (Justice Department) and his dollars to not allow it to see a court and has used every trick in the book to get the request tossed out of court due to lack of standing.

Alan Keyes who ran against Senator and President Obama had his case tossed out of court as well because the judge said it was outside of his jurisdiction after he was scared off the case.
Even the states that tried to mandate they receive a copy of his birth certificate to be placed on the ballot are fighting the Justice Department to this very day.

Do your research and try to find one court the Birth Certificate has been sent. I am not saying he is not born in Hawaii, I am saying something is going on and it needs to be sorted out once and for all. This should be a $25 solution and not years in court.

VoiceofDissent in reply to steadybalance

We like facts, not crazy non-factual or opinion driven drivel. This sentence seems funny to me because the only information you seem to pay any attention to is the opinion driven drivel. Facts are out there I think your just missing them relying on cable news sources.


Good Article and finally a good critique on the Obama administration. I get frustrated with this kind of stuff, and as a moderate, would like to see what Republicans can offer. The problem I see is that Republicans don't focus on this kind of thing or the NDAA.
The focus is on Solyndra and the economy. Its not hard to see that Obama can simply say that he was giving the economy a chance, while all the business experience of Romney simply led to Romney making a huge profit while general employees lost their jobs. Attacking Solyndra doesn't win independents or moderates. Sure attack the economy but even I, a non-political guy, can create a solid argument against Solyndra.
This same thing applies to birth certificates. Stop harping on the birth certificate. Republicans (especially those who are the very far right) you cannot win without the moderates and independents. You need us, and we like facts, not crazy non-factual or opinion driven drivel.
This is the stuff that Republicans should be harping on, the stuff that they should highlight. Its the stuff that makes me move toward Romney, if only he had an actual plan to which he'd stick. Crap...

terrestri in reply to Hamakko

The distinction is in intent and constitutional protection. The press has an explicit protection in the constitution to free speech. If the leaker went to a foreign government and gave them information directly, say to an overt or covert intelligence agent, obviously the intent there is to hurt america. but if the leaker goes to the press, the intent is usually to expose something nasty, for the betterment of america.

the spirit of the law was to prevent intelligence leaks, and obama's administration is using to punish people who leak secrets that simply make the government look bad and don't harm our security.

VoiceofDissent in reply to steadybalance

Opinion driven drivel
2.Solyndra, Obama can simply say that he was giving the economy a chance
Opinion driven drivel
3.harping on the birth certificate
Opinion driven drivel

Not sure were these focus stories came from if not sensational cable news. They don't appear here in the Economist, or Wall Street Journal, or any other credible political news source I can think of. Besides it seems stupid to want a political party to do your fact finding for you all they do is present talking points, and occasionally a few fibs to dive a point home. Your opinions seem based on biased views of republican priorities, but that just at first observation. It read like Gawkers definition of the Right.



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