Obama closes curtain on transparency

[Renae]

President Obama has abolished the position in his White House dedicated to transparency and shunted those duties into the portfolio of a partisan ex-lobbyist who is openly antagonistic to the notion of disclosure by government and politicians.
Obama transferred "ethics czar" Norm Eisen to the Czech Republic to serve as U.S. ambassador. Some of Eisen's duties will be handed to Domestic Policy Council member Steven Croley, but most of them, it appears, will shift over to the already-full docket of White House Counsel Bob Bauer.
Bauer is renowned as a "lawyer's lawyer" and a legal expert. His resume, however, reads more "partisan advocate" than "good-government crusader." Bauer came to the White House from the law firm Perkins Coie, where he represented John Kerry in 2004 and Obama during his campaign.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: Obama closes curtain on transparency | Washington Examiner

So much for Hope and Change.

 

[Orion]

I'll never understand why some people seem to think that the President is directly responsible for everything that happens in the White House and in government. There are a lot of aids and various departments advising him to make these decisions. Often, the President is just the face that plugs into the apparatus and is the one that takes the heat.

I said the same thing about Bush and people didn't really listen to me. The President has power but I often wonder what kinds of internal forces are ever present in swaying his decisions.