Obama signs an executive order to reverse the past eight years of paranoia.

[elfs]

Yesterday morning, President Obama made a statement to the press and issued a memorandum and an executive order to his staff directing them to err on the side of openness when considering Freedom of Information acts. Openness and transparency are foundational principles of good government, and Obama has put the pressure onto the executive offices, demanding that they use all techonologies available to make apparent what they do to the American people. Obama wrote:

Agencies should take affirmative steps to make information public. They should not wait for specific requests from the public. All agencies should use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government. Disclosure should be timely.

That's so refreshingly, wonderfully different from the past eight years. Once again, the grown-ups are in charge once more.

Comments

[tagryn]

Once again, the grown-ups are in charge once more.

When were they before?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I can only assert with certainty: Eisenhower.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Jimmy was a grown-up, but he had no clout... funny, *now* he's got clout.

As for the ExecOrder? About damn time. I would've done it yesterday. But, still. It's a good thing.

[shunra.livejournal.com]

I *do* love the way the Obama administration interprets the whole "putting aside childish things" bit of scripture.

[tagryn]

Hm, thoughtful response. A good answer.

I'd say possibly Bush I, then possibly JFK, but we're still too close temporally to the former, and the latter has a lot of emotional baggage for people before our generation which makes him tricky to get a balanced assessment on.

I guess some of it is whether one interprets "the grownups being in charge" as "the pros are back at the helm" or "the best and brightest are running things again." Not necessarily the same thing. It looks like Obama's managed to strike the right balance between the two in his appointments, we'll just have to hope it works out.