Research

It’s “Sunshine Week” in Washington, which means that the White House is again talking the transparency talk without walking the transparency walk. The Washington Post writes that the departments of State, Transportation, Treasury, NASA  and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have fulfilled noticeably fewer FOIA requests and denied more of them since Obama took office. And The Associated Press reported that government use of legal exemptions to keep information secret has increased by a third since 2008. It looks like the most transparent thing about Obama is his doubletalk about transparency:

Major agencies cited that exemption to refuse records at least 70,779 times during the 2009 budget year… Departments used the exemption even though the Justice Department's Office of Information Policy, which advises them on FOIA, told them after Obama took office that they could exercise discretion and disclose such records. Doing so "will be fully consistent with the purpose of the FOIA," it said.

On the campaign trail, Obama said “I think we set the bar in terms of transparency and disclosure that has been a consistent theme of my campaign and my career in politics." And since taking office, Obama has claimed to make transparency and openness in government a top priority. But even The New York Times was cautious about getting their hopes up, noting that Obama had already made a minor transparency transgression:

The promise of transparency is heartening (though the Obama White House’s initial opening day action in crimping photographers’ traditional access to ceremonies was not). The president has vowed “a clean break from business as usual,” with transparency at the core. The nation welcomes this promise and will be tracking its fulfillment.

We’ve been keeping track. From shielding union cronies and a government health care takeover done through backroom deals, one thing is clear: this White House wants to shade Washington from more sunshine.