A sensational little video has been obtained by Pajamas Media that captures the Topsy Turvy world of doublespeak and President Barack Obama’s promise for openness and transparency.
Titled “White House: Transparency Behind Closed Doors,” the video is of a May 12 congressional hearing where an administration official incongruously insists the best transparency occurs behind closed doors. Pajamas Media shows it to you for the first time. It was produced by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
During the hearing the White House aide invokes confidentiality eleven times, refusing to answer questions raised by congressmen about a potentially chilling executive order being prepared, well, behind White House doors.
A frustrated Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) sums up the Alice in Wonderland moment when he asks: “Does it strike you at all as ironic to invoke confidentiality and not answer questions when we’re having a hearing about transparency?”
“It does not, sir,” White House aide Daniel Gordon replied to Gowdy. “I think there are discussions, even about transparency and developing rules about transparency that we need to be able to have quietly and behind closed doors.” The beginning and end of the video contains remarks by President Obama at the beginning of his administration that openness would be the hallmark of his administration.
The hearing was about a pending Obama executive order that will require companies competing for government contracts to list their political contributions. The administration witness was Daniel Gordon, the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, a part of the Executive Office of the President.
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