What, in the absence of citizen journalists like Glenn and advocacy groups like the ACLU willing to stand up vigorously for civil liberties and government openness, would lead any leader, of either party, to spontaneously dispense with the increased secrecy such passivity would license, given the many advantages operating outside of public view offers politicians?

They should be doing exactly what they are doing now. If they want something, they have the freedom of information act and the courts, they also have leaks and other sources. This is exactly why I am not concerned, the right to free speech exists, and the much greater threat to a free press is the simpering insider culture of DC than any bill that has been passed.

Glenn is supposed to fight, I am glad he is fighting, I just wish he would also acknowledge more clearly that the particular anecdote he chose to write about was also an example of the system working.

1. Its common sense that if you want something form someone, you should be nice to them. The constitution is neither here nor there.

2. Read/watch Obama’s speech to the AMA, naïve as I am, Obama saying he believes the nation needs health care reform is enough for me. In all those cases you mentioned, the president was speaking about the past, your analogy does not hold. (Read my lips would, but what I’m focusing on is not Obama’s promise to fix healthcare, but his assertion that it is critically important.)

3. Who are the victims here? The special interests? Or are you referring to those tortured. Yes, I think it is fair to say if I were tortured I would be pissed, but you know what, I am already pissed about the state of our health care system. But I think your bigger point is about the rule of law. I am all for it (sorry for the outburst forthcoming) THAT IS WHY IT IS A GOOD THING THE CONGRESS MADE HIM TAKE OUT THE PHOTO SUPPRESSION PROVISISON. This is the system working, the rule of law lives. Obama held out an olive branch to the right, the far left balked, and he withdrew the branch ….. how is that bad … at all?

4. The constitution is a living document, the genius of the founding fathers was that they realized they could never write the perfect document. Scalia could have wrote this section of your post, and that is not intended as a compliment. I don’t give a damn about the letter of the constitution its the spirit of the constitution that matters. And if you care about the letters, try out the preamble, you know, the part that charges government to “promote the general welfare.” I’m just glad someone is actually trying to do something.

5. Very confused, are you emphatically agreeing with me here?

6. The police state language started in response to one of Glenn’s responses and I have already addressed it

(I liked the numbers .. can we bring those back/)

Stop being obtuse.

Grahm-Lieberman was stripped from the house bill. This is a good thing, and instead Glenn chose to save his precious boldface to highlight the fact gasp representatives can be bullied/cajoled/influenced/bought.

You are all still pressing this didactic either-or pitting transparency against health care, simultaneously telling me that congress is so deadlocked health care reform won't happen but that the government is somehow competent enough to have us wake up one day without civil liberties.

Like it or not, politics is a game, and our current president plays it well. This is Andrew Leonard in How The World Works, on this site, today, it is about economic regulation, but I feel it encapsulates the transparency issue just as well.

Obama has placed himself at the fulcrum where that tension is most acute. One gets the sense that he doesn't mind that the left is urging him to push harder while the right screams warnings of fascism and socialism. It seems to be exactly where he wants to be.

So keep screaming, please, and the more congress shifts to the left, the more Obama will shift with them, and his urging of the stripping of the provision is a good example of that.

So .. if it is something Obama says to the public or the press, it's probably a lie, but if its something he told congress, there's no way he's going back on it?

Can't have it both ways.

Answers for Ersatz:

First he was telling the truth, then he was lying. The troops will be out of Iraq in March of 2011 and Afghanistan in February 2012. We will have a false recovery Q4 2009, but the real recovery won’t start until Q3 2010. The economic re-regulation will be Obama’s biggest failure and we will have another market crash in 2025. He will, sadly, not be able to bring peace to the Middle East.

You’re welcome.

And, at the end of the day, Kovie is absolutely right. If you don't like what your government is doing, vote for somebody else. Of course, the only problem with that is you have to convince 50% of everyone else to vote with you.

"Democrats say" "Administration Officials"

How is this different from the unnamed sources you so often, and correctly, criticize other journalists for citing?

If you work in the administration, and your president wants a piece of legislation passed, of course you are going to try and twist arms, and of course you are going to be upset if you don't get the votes you want or need. How on earth is it creepy that an administration official, who is most likely a BIG fan of the president, vents after not getting what their boss wants?

Hamsher's article was just as focused, if not more, on the actions of Pelosi and other members of Democratic leadership.