Bush gaat op zijn woord terug

De Bij van Sacramento

TWEE en een half de maanden in zijn baan in 2001, President Bush richtten de Amerikaanse Maatschappij van de Redacteurs van de Krant en zagen een vraag over open overheid onder ogen. Het is herinnerend de moeite waard aan de uitwisseling:

Ondervrager: „Zou u dit ogenblik nemen om uw eigen mening van de Eerste vrijheden van het Amendement ons een betekenis van het fundamentele te geven te articuleren en bericht dat u naar uw beleid zult verzenden aangezien het besluiten inzake of aan open of dichte toegang tot overheidsinformatie?“ neemt

Bush: “There needs to be balance when it comes to freedom of information laws. There are some things that when I discuss in the privacy of the Oval Office or national security matters that just should not be in the national arena.

“On the other hand, my administration will cooperate fully with a Freedom of Information request if it doesn’t jeopardize national security, for example. The interesting problem I have, or for me, as the president, is what’s personal and what’s not personal. And, you know, frankly, I haven’t been on the job long enough to have had to make those choices. … I used to be an avid e-mailer, and I e-mailed to my daughters or e-mailed to my father, for example, and I don’t want those e-mails to be in the public domain. …

But we’ll cooperate with the press, unless we think it’s a matter of national security or something that’s entirely private.”

Today, you’re no longer a rookie, Mr. President. You should be clear by now about what is a public e-mail and what is a family e-mail.

It is a matter of public concern that at least 5 million White House e-mails are missing. A watchdog group has sued for the White House Office of Administration to turn over information about the e-mails, some related to the firing of U.S. attorneys.

Last week, the Justice Department argued that the office is not subject to the open-records law. The office’s Web site, however, tells anyone how to use the law to request documents.

Bush has failed in his commitment to open government by losing sight of what is the public’s business. It is not - and has never been - a fatherly e-mail to his daughters.

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