Openness in Government
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
--quoted from
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment/
It seems clear that either we really have reached the point where Orwell's Newspeak has become the language of government, or that the Obama admininstration has hired Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty, for whom words meant exactly what he chose them to mean, neither more nor less, as the Presidential lexicographer.
Evidently, President Obama means by "openness", "secrecy".
No President of the United States in living memory has not released to the press a detailed medical history--until Obama.
No President of the United States in living memory has kept his college and graduate or professional school transcripts cloaked behind privacy laws--until Obama.
No President of the United States, ever, has engaged in litigation to prevent public access to his original birth certificate--until Obama.
No President of the United States, at least since Nixon, has attempted to substitute White House staff photographers for photographers engaged by news organizations--until Obama.
This is certainly change, but with equal certainty it is not openness, at least not as those of us who still speak English unfettered by the whims of Humpty Dumpty or The Party use the word. And, truth be told, I think it gives the American people little cause for hope.
President Obama, put some weight behind your nostrums about openness, and lead by example. Give the American people a true, complete medical history, access to your transcripts, and order half a dozen official copies of your Certificate of Live Birth (the long form that actually counts for all legal purposes in Hawaii) and send them to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Rush Limbaugh, and Radio Pacifica.
--quoted from
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment/
It seems clear that either we really have reached the point where Orwell's Newspeak has become the language of government, or that the Obama admininstration has hired Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty, for whom words meant exactly what he chose them to mean, neither more nor less, as the Presidential lexicographer.
Evidently, President Obama means by "openness", "secrecy".
No President of the United States in living memory has not released to the press a detailed medical history--until Obama.
No President of the United States in living memory has kept his college and graduate or professional school transcripts cloaked behind privacy laws--until Obama.
No President of the United States, ever, has engaged in litigation to prevent public access to his original birth certificate--until Obama.
No President of the United States, at least since Nixon, has attempted to substitute White House staff photographers for photographers engaged by news organizations--until Obama.
This is certainly change, but with equal certainty it is not openness, at least not as those of us who still speak English unfettered by the whims of Humpty Dumpty or The Party use the word. And, truth be told, I think it gives the American people little cause for hope.
President Obama, put some weight behind your nostrums about openness, and lead by example. Give the American people a true, complete medical history, access to your transcripts, and order half a dozen official copies of your Certificate of Live Birth (the long form that actually counts for all legal purposes in Hawaii) and send them to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Rush Limbaugh, and Radio Pacifica.
posted by DNY at
12:20 PM
1 Comments
