Arkady
President
Ordinarily, I'm a huge advocate for government transparency. One of my biggest criticisms of the Obama administration is that, after a 2008 campaign in which Obama promised extraordinary transparency, this has been arguably the most opaque administration in history. Not only do they avoid sharing information whenever they can, but they've expanded on the Bush-era abuse of the state secrets doctrine to protect themselves from scrutiny. They've also prosecuted more whistle blowers under espionage laws than all prior administrations combined. However, there's plenty of blame to go around on this. Dishonorable behavior of the Republicans encourages ever-greater stonewalling and obfuscation by the administration, since attempts to communicate openly are routinely used as material for disingenuous attacks.
Probably the most famous recent example is the Republican attempt to take Hillary Clinton's words out of context (and often to rephrase them), in order to make it sound like she was saying it didn't matter that four American died in Benghazi. Of course, only an absolute lunatic or imbecile would have thought that's what she meant, but the conservative movement is packed with lunatics and imbeciles, so it was a fruitful line of propaganda for the Republicans.
Here's another example:
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/beltway_plays_scandal_grills_dan_pfeiffer_on_the_word_irrelevant/
A Democrat was making the point that whether or not the IRS activities were illegal, they were wrong and need to be fixed:
"I can’t speak the law — the law here, but the law is irrelevant. The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was stopped and needs to be — we need it to be fixed, so we can ensure it never happens again."
This is a commendable sentiment -- an expression that he won't use "it's technically not illegal" as a way to try to avoid condemning and reforming the practice. But, right-wingers being the breathtakingly dishonorable lot they are, we come away with a new "scandal": that the guy said "the law is irrelevant." When even the most commendable statements are turned into scandal by way of cynical excerpting by Republicans, is it any wonder that the administration resists open dialogue and scrutiny?
As Alex Pareene puts it well:
"The problem, for the White House, is that every word a White House adviser says on TV.... will become part of the great tapestry of allegations that conservatives will make as [the] story continues to churn."
Probably the most famous recent example is the Republican attempt to take Hillary Clinton's words out of context (and often to rephrase them), in order to make it sound like she was saying it didn't matter that four American died in Benghazi. Of course, only an absolute lunatic or imbecile would have thought that's what she meant, but the conservative movement is packed with lunatics and imbeciles, so it was a fruitful line of propaganda for the Republicans.
Here's another example:
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/beltway_plays_scandal_grills_dan_pfeiffer_on_the_word_irrelevant/
A Democrat was making the point that whether or not the IRS activities were illegal, they were wrong and need to be fixed:
"I can’t speak the law — the law here, but the law is irrelevant. The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was stopped and needs to be — we need it to be fixed, so we can ensure it never happens again."
This is a commendable sentiment -- an expression that he won't use "it's technically not illegal" as a way to try to avoid condemning and reforming the practice. But, right-wingers being the breathtakingly dishonorable lot they are, we come away with a new "scandal": that the guy said "the law is irrelevant." When even the most commendable statements are turned into scandal by way of cynical excerpting by Republicans, is it any wonder that the administration resists open dialogue and scrutiny?
As Alex Pareene puts it well:
"The problem, for the White House, is that every word a White House adviser says on TV.... will become part of the great tapestry of allegations that conservatives will make as [the] story continues to churn."
