A few weeks ago, the Obama Administration officially abandoned the President's "Sunlight before Signing" campaign pledge that the White House would post all legislation passed by Congress for at least five days before the President would sign it. In making this announcement, the Administration maintained that it would comply with the spirit, if not the letter, of the original commitment by posting legislation on the White House site once it became clear legislation would eventually pass and make it to the President's desk. This new commitment, they suggested, would actually provide even greater sunlight, as some bills would be available for review earlier and for a longer time. Well, this promise is no longer operative either, as the Cato Institute's Jim Harper details. Since the White House announced its new sunlight policy, nine additional pieces of legislation have been signed into law by the President and yet, as of yesterday, not one had been posted on the White House web site.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Read the Bills Before You Vote:
- Even Less Sunlight Before Signing:
- Climate Protectionism?
- Just Read the Bill:
- The End of Transparency (Before It Ever Began):
He made a LOT of promises that got him elected - and he has kept damned few of them. This means his groundswell from 2008 is not going to repeat - he's shedding too many of the fringe groups that grass-rooted for him. Look for strong Republican gains in 2010, and **IF** the Repubs can find someone, ANYONE, half-way credible ( a task that would challenge them today ! ) in 2012, Obama will be a one-termer.
However, given the Republican penchant for putting 'the oldest white guy they have, whoever's been waiting on line for his shot the longest' on the ticket, ala Dole and McCain - Obama may be in like Flynn. Or Flynn may be in like Obama. Or something.
But Obama is in a very different position. By the time that he gets a bill to sign, the bill is usually available in some form somewhere so that those who are most interested could find it. Plus, he can take the high road, and sign it into law, despite any qualms, by just including a signing statement, and claiming that this is the best that he is going to get, etc.
So, why doesn't he fulfill one of the easiest of his campaign promises to fulfill? It makes little sense to me.
Just as an aside, on Whitehouse.gov, the very first piece of legislation linked to is on the Cato list as not linked. It's on the homepage, even. I found another item that is listed as not linked, but it is. And page after page of Presidential Actions, lots of Executive Orders, etc
So, is this story a non-story?
I agree completely. The best explanation I've come up with is that his White House is growing more and more disorganized and chaotic. Which would explain a lot, really.
Candidate Obama made a promise to increase transparency and accountability in government. I think these were good promises to make, and so I'm interested in the extent to which the promises are kept.
As for legislation being on-line before it is passed, as I've documented in prior posts, this is not always the case (see, e.g. Waxman-Markey, of which even the House clerk did not have a complete integrated copy when it was debated and passed). Further, a website listing legislation pending before the President is easier to navigate than a website containing every piece of legislation introduced into Congress. The former allows a lay citizen to know what's up for consideration right now. The latter is primarily useful for those who are looking for specific things.
As for whether some of this legislation has since been posted, I've contacted Jim Harper to get his response, and will post an update when I hear.
JHA
The blog entry neither quotes the actual legislation nor links to any copy of the actual bill; it does provide links where you can download the text or video of the speech Obama made when he signed it. (Surprisingly, there did not seem to be a link where you could purchase an iPod with Obama's speech pre-loaded onto it.)
You and ChrisTS fell for Obama's smoke and mirrors.
The legislation was not posted.
They enticed the populous with a lot of sweet nothings, got them drunk on the euphoria attendant to The Messiah, and now want to get their satisfaction before the victim recovers enough to object.
Another interesting thing is that FightTheSmears.com has disappeared. Also interesting is that they were hacked by pills spammers in May/June. I saved off one of the pages, and others might want to save off the rest (since they aren't in archive.org).
So you interpret putting up the name of the bill and a promise that it will do good things for the country to have fulfilled a promise to let people read the text of the bill so they could decide if it's a good thing? The fact that this deliberately hides things like pork when exposing pork was explicitly a reason for the policy doesn't bother you? Are you serious about this?
Obama's positions on ethics have mostly been airbrushed out of history, but you can still find caches at the Wayback Machine. Here's the relevant portion from the last version of Obama's Ethics page before it was completely scrubbed:
But lets not get all hyperbolic. This is cynical politics, and while it sure doesn't give me much hope for the future, neither is it any worse than the crap DC is used to.]
barackobama.com/issues/ethics/index_campaign.php
That's archived in the "Campaign Issues" section.
it's amazing what a difference having a D in place of an R after your name makes to hack!
May I presume that you did not criticize President Bush when he broke campaign promises?
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Future News:
Congress has debated the "Do The Right Thing" bill for a week, and it is expected to pass today. Senate approval is expected in short order.
A leading Congressman spoke anonymously to avoid "electoral difficulties":
"None of us has read any of the bills this year before voting for them. Or, for that matter, after voting for them. Even the sponsors don't know the contents; this is left to the staff and lobbyists.
We certainly are ashamed. It is clear to all of us that we cannot go on this way. The average bill is now 1,500 pages, and the details of government have gotten out of hand."
'Do The Right Thing' will give us open, consistent, dynamic government. It grants President Michele Obama (now in her 3rd successful term in office) all principles and powers to consider all matters and then "Do the right thing". The Congress retains the important function of advising on the President's actions should she desire this.
The Congress is now free to do what it does best, arrange for hospital admissions and allocate liquor licenses.
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I tend to like Obama on balance. Certainly much more than W. Bush, and (so far) more than Clinton. But I can see why anyone who held the remotest hope that Obama would lead as a true progressive is very disappointed. I sure feel that way.
I don't claim to understand all the subtleties of this issue, but I am as disappointed in this failure as anything else he has done (or not done) so far as president. If he had kept this promise, and we had 4 (or 8) years of true legislative transparency, there is no way that the next president could have 'walked back' this procedure, and I think the voting public would have been better served on an on-going basis. (I want to know how my sausages are made.)
p.s. I hope the more conservative posters here note that A LOT of liberals are disappointed with Obama, and are not shy about posting to that effect. Let's remember that when, in the distant future, President Palin (Jeb Bush, etc) is in office, so we don't have to hear the crap about, "Why didn't you progressives complain back when Obama was prez and he broke some of his promises?"
Josh, if you had paid any attention the last 8 years, you would have noted that conservatives were highly critical of Dubya on a lot of major issues of huge importance to us. Even the Satanic ones, Limbaugh and Hannity, blasted him on overspending, illegal immigration, prescription drug coverage, No Child Left Behind, Harriet Miers, and many others. Most of us were only happy with the tax cuts, Alito/Roberts and his unwavering willingness to take on the Islamists. Other than those few things, he was pretty much a RINO like McCain. Hell, except for the politically motivated "end to the ban on drilling" when it was far too late to actually, like, end the ban on drilling or something, he was even starting to go green on us. In other words, he wasn't nearly conservative enough.
When you say progressives are complaining about Obama, it is for exactly the opposite reason - you think he's not being liberal enough; not spending enough, not taking over enough of the economy, not reducing the military enough, not ending the Iraq war fast enough, not getting rid of Gitmo, not prosecuting the Bush administration for war crimes, etc.
However, that being said, I can agree with you on some of these Obama promises - the transparency, the end of corruption, the limitations on lobbying, the new post-racial attitudes he was going to bring, etc,. that Obama promised but it appears never intended to implement at all. If a candidate that conservatives like ever campaigns on issues like this (and they should) that could bring more honesty, honor and integrity to the slimy, sleazy, disreputable way politics is currently played and fails to make a mighty attempt to follow through on them, you'll hear us complaining just as loudly about him/her too on those issues.
I am not certain however, that politicians and parties of all stripes will not use those issues simply to get elected. Unless and until I really hear the "progessive" voices actually being highly critical of Obama for disappointing them on these particular promises, then I just have to assume it was all a cynical game as in politics as usual.
who says i haven't criticized obama? but i guess it is easy to ignore counter examples when you're a hack
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