Obama promised transparency.
What happened to Obama’s ‘government transparency’ pledge?
As a candidate, Obama said healthcare reform negotiations should be televised on C-SPAN. But now that House and Senate are hashing out their differences, the White House is backing away from that pledge.By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / January 9, 2010 As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama promised “transparency” in government. The impression was left that we’d all be able to pull up a chair and watch administration officials and lawmakers hash out their philosophical and policy differences as they make laws that affect our lives.
Specifically, Obama said, “we’ll have
negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so the people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who is making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies.”
But now, the White House seems to be pulling back from that pledge, and that’s rankled some Democrats as well as Republicans, not to mention news analysts and opinion makers always eager for a squabble – especially if it hints at a broken promise.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, backed by the White House, has said the House and Senate – each of which have passed versions of healthcare reform – were putting the final bill together “behind closed doors according to an agreement by top Democrats.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2010/0109/What-happened-to-Obama-s-government-transparency-pledge
“You’ve heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don’t know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention—it’s about diet, not diabetes. It’s going to be very, very exciting.
“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking at the 2010 Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties, 3/9/10
Obama should have been out front leading the effort to pass heathcare. Leaving the effort to Pelosi and Reid was understandable but allowing them to hide the process in smoky back rooms was a bad idea.
Many people actually believed in Obama and what he promised. Today they feel like they were treated like fools.