During an CNN interview, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that he’s upset over the fact that President Barack Obama doesn’t get enough credit for being the “most transparent” president in United States history. CNN host Brian Stelter, said that many journalists would disagree with Earnest. The Obama White House has not been the most transparent in history. Stelter mentioned the many complaints of journalists that were denied Freedom of Information Act requests.
Earnest countered saying that the Obama administration has responded to “hundreds of thousands” of FOIA requests. Interestingly, Earnest argued that there is “no constituency in American politics for transparency in government beyond journalists.” That means that people don’t really need to know what the president does. He doesn’t need to be accountable. This confirms what we knew all along.
Earnest also attacked Trump alleging that President-elect Donald Trump has no “incentive” to be transparent. “Given the fact that President Obama has been the most transparent president in American history, and given the fact that he has not gotten much, if any, credit for that from journalists, what incentive does Donald Trump, who I think has a predisposition against transparency when you consider the way he handled his tax returns, what argument does anyone have that there is an [incentive] for him to be more transparent?” he said.
Attacking Trump still doesn’t make Obama transparent.
More Humor: At a meeting last week President Barack Obama warned his successor, Donald Trump, against wielding his executive authority too much. Obama has signed 260 executive orders so far in his eight years in the White House, but he wants Trump not to overdo exercising the same power.
Obama said in 2014 that he doesn’t need the legislative process. He said: “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone”. Obama’s press secretary said in 2015 that the White House doesn’t “need Congress to approve” the Iran deal. Yet he maintained in his advice to Trump that his “strong preference” has always been to work with Congress.
Let’s not forget Obama’s handling of the UN resolution. True it doesn’t need an executive order but it flew in face of the U. S. bipartisan policy of having Israel and the PA negotiate directly and not through international pressure. Obama was not transparent and acted in a vacuum without government support for this new position, using his remaining days in power to get some last licks at people he didn’t see eye to eye with.