When You're the President Secrets Are Okay

Way back during the campaign when Obama was talking about all the terrible deeds that the Bush Admininstration had done and how they were going to change them I suggested that once he became president he would suddenly find that the ability to keep things secret is a nice tool to have.

Once again, I was right (from Andrew Malcolm):

Obama White House breaks another promise to reject Bush secrecy

Well, at least it's bipartisan.

The still sort-of new Barack Obama Democratic administration has again adopted yet another policy straight out of the administration of his much-criticized Republican predecessor George W. Bush.

Obama administration officials have rejected a watchdog group's request for a list of healthcare industry executives who've been meeting secretly in the White House with Obama staffers to discuss pending healthcare changes being drafted there and in Congress.

According to the Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, which is suspicious of the influence of health industry lobbyists and company officers, it received a letter from the Secret Service citing an Obama Justice Dept. directive and denying access to visitor logs under the "presidential communications privilege."

Sound familiar?

Remember the holy hulabaloo in the early Bush years when Vice President Dick Cheney met in the White House compound with energy industry officials and refused to release a list of those executives and the frequency of their visits? That controversy was propelled by critical Democrats and was before Obama's brief Senate tenure.

Andrew has more on the original campaign promise here.

Believe it or not, I'm not criticizing the decision. I think presidents are entitled to secrecy on stuff like this. I do, however, find fault with the hypocrisy of claiming that his administration will be so much higher and loftier and then rejecting such highness and loftiness when it was convenient for him.