Failure of Transparency

U.S. President Barack Obama made great noises during his campaign for the presidency about a new era of transparency in Government. It was part of the 'change' which he offered in his rhetoric; it, apparently, was attractive to the American citizenry, as Mr. Obama was elected to the presidency.

As we are cynics, we are not particularly surprised that President Obama's promises of transparency had strings attached. The latest example is his abrupt about-face regarding photographic evidence of torture at various American prisons in Iraq. According to American Civil Liberties Union executive director Anthony D. Romero, the 2,000+ images show “it is no longer tenable to blame abuse on a few bad apples. These were [torture] policies set at the highest level.”

The reasons given in the article for the about-face are perhaps understandable, but we have to question the logic: is the cure for previous excessive secrecy additional excessive secrecy? This action by the President flies in the face of his campaign promises.

There have been other problems with 'transparency' recently: what sort of 'investments' the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve System are making; why the discussion of a national health plan requires a secret session of the Senate - among others.

A healthy economy requires an open society. We support the ideal to which the 'transparenncy' rhetoric alludes. But, unfortunately we expect that further back-pedalling will come in the future, and we wonder when the supporters of the President will finally realise the big, ugly truth:

They have been conned.