IF HE'S GOING TO BE A CARBON COPY OF W...:

Obama's disappointing secrecy: He promised openness. Instead, like Bush's, his administration wants the power to keep Congress in the dark on some intelligence activities. (Benjamin Friedman, July 21, 2009, CS Monitor)

The White House website says that citizens have a right to know what their government is doing and that accountability makes government more effective. That's absolutely right. In some areas, such as the liberalization of policy on Freedom of Information Act requests, the administration has embraced this principle.

Disappointingly though, the administration's commitment to openness and accountability does not extend to intelligence activities.

...we have to expect him to make the same mistakes too.

MORE:
Meanwhile, he'll get most stuff right, Democrats irked by Obama signing statement (ANNE FLAHERTY, 7/21/09, Associated Press)

President Barack Obama has irked close allies in Congress by declaring he has the right to ignore legislation on constitutional grounds after having criticized George W. Bush for doing the same.

Four senior House Democrats on Tuesday said they were "surprised" and "chagrined" by Obama's declaration in June that he doesn't have to comply with provisions in a war spending bill that puts conditions on aid provided to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. [...]

"During the previous administration, all of us were critical of (Bush's) assertion that he could pick and choose which aspects of congressional statutes he was required to enforce," the Democrats wrote in their letter to Obama. "We were therefore chagrined to see you appear to express a similar attitude."

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 21, 2009 4:11 PM