A LITTLE HONESTY GOES A LONG WAY: The Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan doesn’t let Obama off the hook, and reminds the paper’s #ResistClub members that the scooping up of reporters’ data had some precedent from “The Most Transparent Administration Ever”:

“But Trump’s anti-press bluster aside, there’s a clear blueprint to follow — courtesy of Barack Obama, who once claimed that he would be the most transparent president ever but proved to be no friend to press rights.”

To be fair, this shouldn’t be a case of “whattaboutism.” Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it. I’ll be publishing a column on this, and adding some personal reportorial perspective, as well as a little history. This practice goes back to at least Ike and JFK, and it is Trump’s open declaration of dislike for the press (as opposed to the secret dislike held by previous administrations) that has people particularly freaked out.