The Opacity Of Hope

by JASmius



Remember this claim from President Stonewall?



Good times, good times:

The Obama administration set a record for the number of times its federal employees told disappointed citizens, journalists and others that despite searching they couldn't find a single page requested under the Freedom of Information Act, according to a new Associated Press analysis of government data.

In more than one in six cases, or 129,825 times, government searchers [claime]d they came up empty-handed last year. Such cases contributed to an alarming measurement: People who asked for records under the law received censored files or nothing in 77% of requests, also a record. In the first full year after Barack Obama's election, that figure was only 65% of cases. [emphasis added]

And in the spirit of that opacity, the White House did what they always do: play dumb and blame the GOP:

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday he was not familiar with the figures showing how routinely the government said it can't find any records, although the [Inj]ustice[, Revenge & Coverup Commissaria]t also highlighted them in its own performance report. Earnest said federal employees work diligently on such requests....

Naturally; because stonewalling and redacting (trust me) takes a very long time.

....and renewed his earlier complaint that the U.S. records law has never applied to Congress since it was signed into law fifty years ago by President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat.

"Congress writes the rules and they write themselves out of being accountable," Earnest said. He urged reporters "to continue the pressure that you have applied to Congress to encourage them to subject themselves to the same kinds of transparency rules that they insist other government agencies follow." [emphasis added]

Which wouldn't exactly be the first instance of Congress exempting itself from a law it passed, but is also not the bleeping point.   The issue is that O's was guaranteed to be the "most transparent administration ever," and they continue to call themselves that, even though the evidence, with which J-Earn was (remarkably) confronted, demonstrates that the Regime is more impenetrable than a light-year of lead.  Whining that, "Well, they do it, too!" not only isn't an excuse or alibi, but is also a tacit concession of guilt.

The new data represents the final figures on the subject that will be released during Obama's presidency.

Well, now, that's convenient, isn't it?  Tantamount to, "I lied to you, you bought it, and I've gotten away with it.  See ya later, suckers!"

But maybe I shouldn't be so harsh; The One was transparent....with the information he chose to release.  Feel free to assign any term that you wish to the concept of "militantly selective transparency".   But that is, after all, why they say that "brevity is the soul of wit".

Because, of course, the White House redacted the rest of it.