Newsweek Shocker: 'Obama Closes Doors On Openness'

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In today's "You're Not Going to Believe This" segment, Barack Obama has gone back on his promise of creating an open and transparent administration, and the good folks at Newsweek not only noticed it, but reported it.

Yes, the magazine that seems to have Obama on its cover every week actually exposed the object of their affection for not only going back on a campaign promise, but also for contradicting his own highly-publicized decree made the first full day he was in office.

Maybe even better, the author, Michael Isikoff, was the same reporter who was about to break the Monica Lewinsky story in January 1998, but was stopped by Newsweek higher-ups.

Readers are advised to tighten their seatbelts and prepare themselves for an alternate media reality:

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As a senator, Barack Obama denounced the Bush administration for holding "secret energy meetings" with oil executives at the White House. But last week public-interest groups were dismayed when his own administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for Secret Service logs showing the identities of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Obama's "clean coal" policies. One reason: the disclosure of such records might impinge on privileged "presidential communications." The refusal, approved by White House counsel Greg Craig's office, is the latest in a series of cases in which Obama officials have opted against public disclosure. Since Obama pledged on his first day in office to usher in a "new era" of openness, "nothing has changed," says David -Sobel, a lawyer who litigates FOIA cases. [...]

After Obama's much-publicized Jan. 21 "transparency" memo, administration lawyers crafted a key directive implementing the new policy that contained a major loophole, according to FOIA experts. The directive, signed by Attorney General Eric Holder, instructed federal agencies to adopt a "presumption" of disclosure for FOIA requests. This reversal of Bush policy was intended to restore a standard set by President Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno. But in a little-noticed passage, the Holder memo also said the new standard applies "if practicable" for cases involving "pending litigation." Dan Metcalfe, the former longtime chief of FOIA policy at Justice, says the passage and other "lawyerly hedges" means the Holder memo is now "astonishingly weaker" than the Reno policy.

Wow!

Of course, this revelation would have been even more surprising if it had been on Newsweek's cover. Unfortunately, that space is only available for puff pieces about the new president.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.


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Who coined the term

"Barack Obama has gone back on his promise of creating an open and transparent administration," 

Who coined the term "transparent" and "transparency" as applied to government and business operations - and when did it start? All I know is that it has to be the most overused, misapplied, and usually inappropriate buzz words to come down the pike in years.

The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.

I believe the same people

I believe the same people who coined the phrase "Change you can believe in" coined the term "transparency". Both terms were created by Obama's Bamboozle 'Em & Lie Through Your Teeth Czar.

___________________________________ 

Liberals constantly demand that we accept a glaring falsehood as truth; Obama's elimination of the word "terror" will make terrorist acts less terrifying

1984

Who coined the term "transparent" and "transparency" as applied to government and business operations

That is part of the NewSpeak being used by the Obama administration. Some examples:

  • Transparency = opaqueness
  • Change = more of the same, only more so
  • Hope = you'd better hope you don't get on my bad side
  • Tax cuts = tax increases on more than everything, for everyone
  • Obamacare = assisted suicide (for you)
  • Law = what you had better obey and the government doesn't

D

Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.

Double plus good

Newspeak is Double plus good . . . for the Demoncrats & RINOs

 

 

"Gov. Palin has been subjected to one of the most massive and dishonest pile-on smear attacks in the history of liberal media."  -- Lowell Ponte

Chris, in this case, "open"

Chris, in this case, "open" means a "presumption of disclosure" ....unless the President doesn't want it made public.

I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows.  -Bart Simpson

 

Given Obama's lawyerly

Given Obama's lawyerly ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth at the same time Newsweek is surprised?  Some people (liberals) excuse misrepresenting and lying as normal salestalk to sell the agenda, however, there is a difference between a salespitch and conning.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.

Will Truth Win?

Slowly some see the truth about the Bamster. How long will it take? Where will we be by congressional elections in 2010?

Here's a similar eye-opener, by John Kass, a real journalist: Obama's Political Play Should Shock No One:  http://www.chicagotribune.com

"It's amusing to watch the Washington political establishment feign shock, now that President Barack Obama's reform administration has used a clay foot to vigorously kick one inspector general and boot another out the door."

Slick

I feel it's going to take a long time before Dear Leader is finaly exposed. I look at history and see how long it took for people to realize who Hitler was.  

Semper suprene nitens

ricklail

It could take decades (see USSR) or destruction (see Nazi Germany). I am sure it all started out innocently enough although born in strife the cure was worse than the disease with these respective countries.

The problem with we'uns is that we believe nothing like that could happen here. What is wrong with these Utopic governments is they deny human nature and ultimately must use force to put all their square pegs in society's round holes. Hammers become mandatory. With the abetment of the once MSM now SCM the evil can remain hidden from the general public. Such is the cult of personality allied with a disguised agenda.  

"Somehow, I told you so, just doesn't quite say it." Will Smith in 'I, Robot.'

Who's Hungry?

Anyone want to go get some frozen custard? 


This is NEWS??

Are you kidding?

This is news?

To whom?

And aother thing,

This guy SOBama, is NO lawyer.

I want to see his grades, his deploma, and his scores from his Bar Exam!

I believe this son of a bitch is made up of whole cloth.

The only thing I know for sure is that he Hates our country, he Hates Jews, he Hates Democracy in any form, and he Loves custard!

 

But he is the poster boy for openness

Original, vault copy birth certificate -- Not released
-- Lawyers fees -- greater than $1,000,000 -- birth certificate -- $15.
Certification of Live Birth -- Released --
Counterfeit
Obama/Dunham marriage license -- Not released

Obama/Dunham divorce --
Released
(by independent investigators)

Kindergarten records --


Records lost
(this is a big one -- see
here -- read two frames)
Soetoro/Dunham marriage license -- Not released
Soetoro adoption records -- Not released

Fransiskus Assisi School  School application -- Released (by
independent investigators)
Punahou School records -- Not released
Soetoro/Dunham divorce --
Released
(by
independent investigators)

Selective Service Registration -- Released --
Counterfeit
Occidental College records -- Not released
Passport -- Not released and records scrubbed clean by Obama's
terrorism and intelligence
adviser
.
Columbia College records -- Not released
Columbia thesis -- "Soviet Nuclear
Disarmament" -- Not released
Harvard College records -- Not released
Harvard Law Review articles -- None

Illinois Bar Records -- Not released.
Baptism certificate -- None
Medical records -- Not released
Illinois State Senate records -- None
Illinois State Senate schedule -- Lost
Law practice client list -- Not released
University of Chicago scholarly articles -- None

“Less 1984 — More 1776"

Like I said long ago...this

Like I said long ago...this JD is the most dangerous we have ever seen, of course hand in hand with Greg and the O-Team at the top...the EPA and Browner come in second to me....

We're going to have a long battle to wade through with this BS far-leftist take-over...to put it politely.

Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart

Wow

You are correct Noel.

Even after reading it and re-reading, I still don't believe they printed it.

 

 

"Gov. Palin has been subjected to one of the most massive and dishonest pile-on smear attacks in the history of liberal media."  -- Lowell Ponte

"Yes, the magazine that

"Yes, the magazine that seems to have Obama on its cover every week..."

Newsweek wanted to change it's name but

'O' Magazine was already taken.

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."--Mark Twain

They already changed their name.....

NEWSWEEK.....to NEWSWEAK........

Happy Fathers Day one and all!!

 

→ Begrunt

I thought they changed it to Newspeak.
Avoid the $ hit

They can turn on a dime...

I wouldn't be surprised if Newsweek tried to justify the new opaque 'transparency" - saying that it is indeed necessary and prudent that Obama is doing it. Remember when they praised Jimmah Carter talking up human rights around the world - now they support Obama's silence and "nuanced" carefulness in not openly siding with the protesters in Iran.

The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.

Yeah, they apparently don't

Yeah, they apparently don't remember all the closed door meetings with democrats or secret meetings with union leaders either.

I think it is obvious that

I think it is obvious that when Obama said his administration would be "transparent", he meant he was going to transparently destroy this country from the inside out.

No shock here

I knew all along how crooked, dishonest and big a liar this muslim was. You hit the nail on the head Delsa, this muslim ain't showed me nothing either except how much he hates America and Americans, why he won't even show his birth record because he ain't American.

The Messiah Lied

So the Messiah lied to get into office. If only the mind-numbed public would wake up and realize they've been duped.

misunderstanding

This is just a misunderstanding. When President Obama promised a new era of transparency he meant the Bush administration. That is why he releases classified memos.

A person may be won over with logic and reason but the masses must be bought with spectacle and platitudes. - 2008 Elections