Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
President Obama has reversed his earlier position on White House visitor logs and announced that the White House will now be posting those logs online for all to see.
President Barack Obama said today that his administration will start releasing the names of people who visit the White House, reversing a long-standing policy transcending both Democratic and Republican presidents.The move, which could shed light on who influences White House decision-making, comes following a White House review of its disclosure policy and legal pressure from the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
But we may not be out of the woods yet. This applies only to future visitors, not necessarily to past ones:
No records will be released right away.Going forward, the policy covers visits starting Sept. 15, and each bunch of records will be cover visits from the previous 90 to 120 days...
The records of visitors from the Jan. 20 start of Obama's presidency through Sept. 15 will not be covered by the policy. Instead, the White House's counsel office will respond to individual requests for records during that time, but only if those requests are deemed to be reasonable, narrow and specific.
So does this mean that they'll be releasing the records sought by CREW in two different lawsuits, records that the Obama administration had gone to court to fight against their release? Apparently so, since CREW is dropping their suits:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has long sought public access to White House visitor logs, has dropped all pending litigation."The Obama administration has proven its pledge to usher in a new era of government transparency was more than just a campaign promise," said the group's executive director, Melanie Sloan. "The Bush administration fought tooth and nail to keep secret the identities of those who visited the White House. In contrast, the Obama administration -- by putting visitor records on the White House Web site -- will have the most open White House in history."
Good news indeed. Now, how about reversing your use of the state secrets privilege? That's a far more crucial issue.
Politics
Comments
Very good news, and congratulations to organizations like CREW who made this happen.
Posted by: llewelly | September 7, 2009 10:46 AM
Well, for a moment there I thought that we would be able to look on the Obama presidency as a complete and utter disappointment, but now we don't even get that!
Posted by: Valhar2000 | September 7, 2009 11:12 AM
Hmm - makes me wonder if he intended to do this all along. By delaying a little it makes it look like he is giving a bit on civil rights and taking pressure off, for example, the State Secrets issue.
For Obama it's all about balance. Say what you like about him, I personally think he's doing pretty damn well in the circumstances, but he's a consummate politician.
Posted by: David Durant | September 7, 2009 11:23 AM
I suspect the delay is so he could do most of his cabinet recruiting (and some early policy consulting) done out of the light of day. It is a lot easier to get some hesitant people to come talk to him if it is not going to be in the press the next day. Still don't make it right.
Posted by: Ferrous Patella | September 7, 2009 4:07 PM