Transparency Advocate and Former Obama Adviser on "Our Untransparent President"
University of Chicago law professor and American Constutition Society Chairman Geoffrey R. Stone gives his former colleague a brisk what-for in the pages of The New York Times:
As a longtime supporter and colleague of Barack Obama at the University of Chicago, as well as an informal adviser to his 2008 campaign, I had high hopes that he would restore the balance between government secrecy and government transparency that had been lost under George W. Bush, and that he would follow through on his promise, as a candidate, to promote openness and public accountability in government policy making.
It has not quite worked out that way.
How so?
In early 2009 members of Congress enthusiastically introduced the Whistle-Blower Protection Enhancement Act, which promised substantial protection to certain classes of government employees who report matters of legitimate public concern to lawmakers or the media. Although as a candidate Mr. Obama had expressed support for such a law, his administration cooled to the idea and let it die in the Senate in late 2010 (it was reintroduced in April 2011). Sadly, as a number of high-profile criminal cases against whistle-blowers show, the Obama administration has followed its predecessor in aggressively cracking down on unauthorized leaks.
President Obama has also followed Mr. Bush in zealously applying the state secrets doctrine, a common-law principle intended to enable the government to protect national security information from disclosure in litigation. Although legitimate in theory, the doctrine had been invoked in an unprecedented manner by the Bush administration to block judicial review of a broad range of questionable practices. […]
[T]he Obama administration has aggressively asserted the privilege in litigation involving such issues as the C.I.A.'s use of extraordinary rendition and the National Security Agency's practice of wiretapping American citizens.
Stone's conclusion has practical application far beyond transparency policies or Democratic politics:
The record of the Obama administration on this fundamental issue of American democracy has surely fallen short of expectations. This is a lesson in "trust us." Those in power are always certain that they themselves will act reasonably, and they resist limits on their own discretion. The problem is, "trust us" is no way to run a self-governing society.
Link via the Twitter feed of Glenn Greenwald. Reason on government transparency here.
