Obama limits ex-presidents' discretion on records

[babylonsister]

Obama limits ex-presidents' discretion on records

By MARK SHERMAN


WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama issued an executive order Wednesday that limits the ability of former presidents to block the release of sensitive records of their time in the White House.

Obama's action in his first full day in office overturned an earlier order issued by George W. Bush that prompted a federal lawsuit.

Obama said former presidents may ask to have certain documents kept private, but they no longer may compel the National Archives to do so.

Obama's executive order also makes clear that neither former vice presidents nor relatives of former presidents who have died have authority to keep records private.

Bush's executive order was issued in November 2001. A federal judge ruled parts of it invalid in 2007. Obama's order revoked it entirely.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_PRESIDENTI...

[hlthe2b]

1. Time to go after Cheney's massive stashes now.....eom

[cynatnite]

2. So, we could get some interesting stuff out of this...

[tekisui]

3. Rolling, rolling, rolling....

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Oh, this is going to be good!

[Ecumenist]

5. Yay Barry! Ah Rah-rah-rah! YAY BARRY!! A-RAH-RAH-RAH!!

[tabatha]

8. yep!!!

Piece by piece, step by step, he is giving the government back to the people.

[DS1]

6. YES! I was waiting for that!

I think Bush and Cheney both took shits about 9.3 Courics each!

[Shardik]

7. When I heard Obama mentioned this earlier I knew we had the right man

in the right job.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. I have a feeling I will be doing this a lot....

[bluesmail]

10. Full steam ahead! n/t

[Donnachaidh]

11. How would this apply to say, the hearings about Prescott Bush?

While this is wonderful news -- didn't GHW have a little trick of getting documents *disappeared*? He certainly did it with his idiot son's laughable military records.

I'd love to be able to dig into the paperwork about the elder nazi loving Bush.

[2Design]

12. YESSSSSSSSSS n/t

[2Design]

13. nice to have a guy who knows the constitutions and constitution law n/t

[Winterblues]

14. I suspect there are very few records left to examine except for Clinton's

You know they have spent all eight years covering their tracks going all the way back to Nixon.

[Tennessee Gal]

15. I am loving Obama!

This man knows what is best for this country!

[Libertyfirst]

16. As a noted predecessor said, "of the of the people, by the people, for the people.

[IndependentDem]

17. I was just reading the executive order on whitehouse.gov

I hope this is the first step toward prosecuting bush co.

[Eurobabe]

18. bwahahah, is the impending doom what prompted this?