Obama is not transparent

When President Obama was elected, he stated that his administration would be the most transparent in history. Shortly before last November’s election, and right after then-Sen. John Kerry stated at the Democratic Convention that al-Qaida was defeated for good, four U.S. citizens were murdered by … al-Qaida extremists. The president, his secretary of state and the State Department lied for weeks, and until after the election, claiming an anti-Muslim video was at fault.

More recently, we find that the Internal Revenue Service has been illegally targeting conservative political groups while ignoring similar groups with liberal ties. Now, we find that the Obama administration has known about this for much longer than the president initially admitted. Finally, last week the Associated Press, and now, Fox News personnel, have had emails and phone records monitored or seized without prior notice or consent.

The Obama administration has lied, delayed and obfuscated about these issues, which is not exactly the definition of transparency. When asked about them, the president claimed to be ignorant.

I’m not sure which is worse, being a liar or clueless, but either way this is not the “change” we were hoping for, and it is definitely not transparent.

Hal Dixon

Spokane