I’d guess it’s against the office more so than whoever holds the office, and that the move for dismissal is based more on technical and practical reasons than out of desire to protect anybody.
Technically, the NSA’s lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 5, 2007, is against the “Executive Office of the President,” the president’s Office of Administration, and Alan R. Sendiman, then-head of the OoA. I would presume CREW’s lawsuit is similar.
Not sure I understand - what are the technical reasons for the move for dismissal?
But it’s Bush/Cheney material that they’re after. My core point remains: That stuff has a lot of shit stirring potential and Obama doesn’t want that, even if it isn’t aimed at him.
I’m becoming increasingly disillusioned with Obama’s supposed “openness”. He gives good lip service to FOIA, but when it comes down to actual disclosure doesn’t follow through.
He’s really about “openness from this point forward,” not necessarily opening or re-opening wounds from the last eight years. That’s entirely consistent with what he was saying throughout the campaign. It seems pretty clear that the messages Obama sent to the bureaucracy about erring on the side of openness were not with fingers crossed behind his back. The message alone mattered a lot. But it didn’t mean he was going to support shedding light on everything Bush did, for a variety of reasons.
The thing is, this isn’t a political issue, but one of historical record. The NSA is suing because millions of e-mails detailing the day-to-day workings of our government are sitting on a hdd somewhere. That is a problem that shouldn’t be swept under the rug. That information, if it still exists, is public record that could one day be used to better understand and judge a period of American history. I don’t believe it would have hurt Obama one bit to just let this investigation continue. Hell, maybe they are all erased. It would be nice to know one way or another.
This quote from the NSA “about” page illustrates why I think this issue is so important.
Archive staff members systematically track U.S. government agencies and federal records repositories for documents that either have never been released before, or that help to shed light on the decision-making process of the U.S. government and provide the historical context underlying those decisions.
Again, it’s not about whether Obama is hurt. The information has the potential to be embarassing or used against Bush and Cheney and co, that’s what Obama and his people are concerned with.
Then why doesn’t Obama pardon them if that’s how he feels?
Covering it up is hardly the correct course of action.
In response to your post, its not Obama’s place to shield citizens from facts and Bush from resulting judgment. This is a failure of the transparency that Obama proclaimed.
The reason why this is being done so quickly is because digital records do not age like physical media. With these e-mails, time is a factor in preservation, and the NSA understands this.
Because a pardon comes off as a tacit endorsement of what they did, it’s also killing a fly with a tactical nuke.
I think Obama justifiably feels it’s his place not to pit half the country against the other half over the previous administration, all while he has to juggle a whole raft of current and pressing problems. Look, I’m all for transparency, I really am, but people are being remarkably politically obtuse about this particular area.
If that is the case, then who says the e-mails (again, if they exist) are to be published right away? They would be treated just like the other e-mail that was recorded while Bush was in office. Its not like the juicy bits would hit newsstand within the week. Again, its about preservation, not exploiting them for political purposes.
Because covering up their dirty work doesn’t?
No it isn’t. People have been preemptively pardoned for lesser crimes.
I’m not just referring to this incident, but to his policies on rendition, and so forth. So far he looks set to stone wall on government secrecy only somewhat less than Bush. He has consistently said one thing, than done something else.
And besides, I don’t care what his rational is for not exposing Bush’s files – he’s wrong. That stuff needs to come to light, so that it’s less likely to happen again in the future. Whether Bush et al get prosecuted or whether it causes Obama political trouble is beside the point.
He is turning out to be pretty much the Obama I expected, rather than the one I hoped for.
There’s two questions no one really knows the answers to.
- Do the files evens exist anymore?
- If they do exist, where the hell are they?
You misunderstand me. I mean that the solution is (potentially at least) more problematic than the original problem. Pardoning Bush and co outright would deal Obama a heavy blow politically with his base, heavier than anything he gets from fighting this lawsuit.
Like that’s not already the case? Nothing Obama is going to do is going to create a greater us vs. them than we already have.
In this case, I just don’t think it’s Obama’s place to say we’re going to proactively keep all of that information hidden. If there are the equivilent of the Nixon White House Tapes in those records, let the chips fall where they will, and if there are blatant illegal acts brought to light, let those who have been in positions of power now be accountable.
I must’ve missed something: at what point did Obama claim he was going to micromanage every FOIA case the DOJ handled? I agree he’s awesome, but still: that brother’s got a lot on his plate.
As near as I can tell, the plaintiffs are saying White House staff didn’t do enough to recover “lost” e-mail and the DOJ is saying, “Yes, we did, now leave us alone.” There may be some vast cover-up conspiracy here, or it could just be the administration feels it has better things to do with its time than rummage through Dubya’s shoeboxes.
uhm, well