Bob McCarty Writes

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama promised to bring transparency to government, but then took advantage of loopholes in campaign finance law that allowed him to keep secret the names of donors who made contributions of less than $200 to his campaign.  After taking office, he’s done little to follow through on the pledge.

On Jan. 21, President Obama issued a MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES that included the paragraph below about transparency:

Government should be transparent.  Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.  Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.

Published under “the Briefing Room” tab under “Executive Orders” on the White House web site, the memo serves merely as a directive to three Obama Administration officials — the chief technology officer, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and the administrator of General Services — to come up with a plan within 120 days.  As outlined in its next-to-last paragraph, the memo carries no weight of law:

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

It will be interesting to see whether the 44th president’s transparency pledge produces any “fruit.”  I suspect the only transparency Americans will see from members of the Obama Administration will surface when people like Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett and others testify under oath during the upcoming trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.).  Of course, they might take the 5th, too.

Cartoon courtesy:  My Personal Litmus