“This is the most transparent administration in history” said President Obama in February, 2013.
When I bought my first convertible, the rear view mirror was clear and perfect at day one. It was made of plastic so that it could fold into the back of the car when I put the top down. By the time I sold that car six years later, the rear window was a disaster; one could barely see light through the window.
The past six years have proven to be a perfect simile to my first convertible. There may have been transparency at the beginning of the Obama administration. Over the past two or three years, there has been a complete lack of transparency. Whether it be the Internal Revenue Service, Benghazi, Fast and Furious or the strategy of the United States versus ISIS, which is to assume there is some strategy, the White House has stammered, blocked and bloviated against responding to anyone and everyone.
Now, with potential actions by the White House on immigration being postponed because the citizens of the United States would have to find out what the Administration thinks before an election, the transparency promise is complete. There is no transparency at the top of American government.
“Because of the Republicans’ extreme politicization of this issue, the president believes it would be harmful to the policy itself and to the long-term prospects for comprehensive immigration reform to announce administrative action before the elections,” a White House official said. “Because he wants to do this in a way that’s sustainable, the president will take action on immigration before the end of the year.”
At least the President did not blame George Bush.
Now, the most transparent administration in history explains he wants to keep perhaps one of the most important decisions of his career a secret until after the elections. Why should the public know what action the leader of the Democratic Party intends to take with respect to immigration before deciding how to vote in the November elections? Worse yet, he has telegraphed that his actions will very likely be far beyond anything intended or likely legal under that silly document entitled The Constitution of the United States. And he blames Republicans.
Of course, the political opportunities for Republicans running for election in the fall are enhanced by the President's being completely opaque on an issue virtually every American considers extremely important. Why an enhancement? Because every candidate can determine for him or herself what the President has in mind.
"The President has not revealed his political plan for immigration because he does not want you to know. He plans to provide amnesty to every individual illegally in the United States, stop whatever border enforcement still exists and allow only individuals who have received amnesty in the past year to vote in the November 2016 election." - OK, this is over the top; but the words that will be put in the President's mouth will be effectively of his own choosing. It is like my old convertible, I had to make my best guess about what I could not see through my opaque rear window.