On 'State Secrets,' Meet Barack W. Obama

ABC News Blog Political Punch ^ | April 10, 2009 9:20 AM | Jake Tapper

[One_American]

On 'State Secrets,' Meet Barack W. Obama
April 10, 2009 9:20 AM

In February, President Obama's Justice Department quietly argued in a San Francisco court that it was maintaining the same position as President Bush's Justice Department on a case involving detainees trying to sue a private company for its role in their (allegedly) extraordinary renditions.

The Obama administration pushed the status quo administration argument by invoking the "state secrets" argument, also a Bush-era fave.

"It is the policy of this administration to invoke the state secrets privilege only when necessary and in the most appropriate cases," said DOJ spox Matt Miller.

Last week, Team Obama did it again.

And why wouldn't they?

Attorney General Eric Holder recently said he was reviewing the way the Bush administration used the "state secrets" argument, but "on the basis of the two, three cases that we've had to review so far -- I think that the invocation of the doctrine was correct."

Huh.

That seems a little different from the Obama-Biden campaign website where "The Problem" is described in part as the Bush administration having "invoked a legal tool known as the 'state secrets' privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court."

Because that's just what the Obama administration tried to do......

[One_American]

Another broken campaign promise Mr. President? Where is the "new era of transparency, accountability, and respect for civil liberties" you promised us?

[Neoliberalnot]

I am more worried about how many national security secrets this piece of chicago political trash has revealed to which middle east countries—a far more serious issue and to think he has full access when he couldn’t even pass an FBI security check for his association with Ayers.

[God luvs America]

and another one that will receive little more than a mention in a blog....

[One_American]

"President Obama promised the American people a new era of transparency, accountability, and respect for civil liberties," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "But with the Obama Justice Department continuing the Bush administration's cover-up of the National Security Agency's dragnet surveillance of millions of Americans, and insisting that the much-publicized warrantless wiretapping program is still a 'secret' that cannot be reviewed by the courts, it feels like deja vu all over again."

Obama threw out this promise like a chunk of red meat on the campaign trail and his liberal base ate it up. So this now shows he was either incredibly naive or he never intended to honor this promise.

[Vaduz]

A promise is just a promise people need to note a persons record before voting I guess that would omit most democrats.