• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Too much secrecy

Sandhusker

Well-known member
President Obama says he will change the way the federal government interprets the Freedom of Information Act to provide more transparency in government.

This is an amazing statement from a man who refused throughout the campaign – and even until this day – to make public even the complete birth certificate that would lay to rest the concerns of millions of Americans that he is, indeed, constitutionally eligible as a "natural born citizen" to be the president of the United States.

"For a long time now, there's been too much secrecy in this city," said Obama.

He said last week he is directing agencies to err on the side of making information public – not to look for reasons to withhold it.

Such a pledge should be taken with a grain of salt from a man who has fought numerous lawsuits from American citizens challenging his eligibility rather than simply release a document under his control.

Even more ironic is his statement asserting his orders would "make government as honest and transparent as it needs to be" and that "these historic measures do mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country. And I will, I hope, do something to make government trustworthy in the eyes of the American people, in the days and weeks, months and years to come."


Wouldn't a little personal initiative and responsibility regarding the secrecy of his own history – not just with regard to the birth certificate issue, but concerning his foreign travels, his passport, his citizenship and his education – set the kind of example that would lead to trust?

Yes, of course, if he has nothing to hide.

Even at this point, following his inauguration, his confirmation by the Electoral College and several reviews of the matter by the U.S. Supreme Court, the American people have still been denied the complete birth certificate that would show where Barack Obama was delivered, who was the attending physician and who his natural parents were.

The refusal to release this information even now shows, at best, Obama is not sincere in his pledge for more openness and transparency and, at worst, that he genuinely is hiding information about his past. Is it arrogance? Or is it a cover-up? What else can explain the secrecy of Obama's life? If it is OK for Obama to keep such secrets, why is it not for anyone else?

I would think those most supportive of Obama would be the ones pushing hardest for him to live up to his own lofty rhetoric about openness and transparency. If I were an Obama supporter, which I am not, I would want him to put this foolishness to rest, once and for all, before it metastasizes into a cancer that consumes his presidency and his legacy.

But this is not the course Obama has chosen. And it is not the course his supporters have chosen.

Instead, Obama has chosen to oppose all legal efforts to unseal his own records. And his supporters have chosen to ridicule and pillory those who have the audacity to demand the basic proof of constitutional eligibility to serve in the highest office in the land.

This is not the example of someone who reveres the Constitution of the United States. This is not the example of someone who just swore two oaths, one successful and the other unsuccessful, to uphold and defend it.

So how are we to believe Obama is sincere in his pledges for openness and transparency in government? Why should we accept those statements as true? Isn't Obama actually approving openness and transparency for others while excluding himself from the responsibility and accountability to the law and the people?

This fight is not over.

Obama may think it's over.

His supporters might believe they have secured the White House and the issue of eligibility is behind them.

But I am determined not to allow this matter to die.
 
Top