Opposite of Presidential promises

Why does it seem than everything that comes out of President Obama’s mouth proves to be a lie?  Especially when it comes to “transparency” and “accountability,” if his mouth is moving – he is lying.  

The current battle is very messy and very public.  The latest update by Phil Bronstein as of this publication reads:

Update: In a pants-on-fire moment, the White House press office today denied anyone there had issued threats to remove Carla Marinucci and possibly other Hearst reporters from the press pool covering the President in the Bay Area.

Chronicle editor Ward Bushee called the press office on its fib:

Sadly, we expected the White House to respond in this manner based on our experiences yesterday. It is not a truthful response. It follows a day of off-the-record exchanges with key people in the White House communications office who told us they would remove our reporter, then threatened retaliation to Chronicle and Hearst reporters if we reported on the ban, and then recanted to say our reporter might not be removed after all.

The Chronicle’s report is accurate.

If the White House has indeed decided not to ban our reporter, we would like an on-the-record notice that she will remain the San Francisco print pool reporter.

I was on some of those calls and can confirm Ward’s statement.

Messy ball now firmly in White House court.

The original headline read, “Obama Administration punishes reporter for using multimedia” with the core of the dispute centered on a cell phone video taken by a respected journalist covering San Francisco news for The Chronicle, Carla Marinucci.

When unexpected protesters interrupted events during one of the perpetual string of campaign fundraisers, Marinucci pulled out her phone and recorded the action at the St. Regis Hotel.  

White House officials then banished her from the approved pool of journalists “covering presidential visits to the Bay Area for using now-standard multimedia tools to gather the news.”

Wow, this on the left coast?  The dispute may resolve, but how sensitive to image control does a Presidential Administration have to be to slap around a friendly reporter? 

Next they will be telling America what to eat and drink and what light bulbs to buy and how to flush a toilet.  (Whoops, guess they are already doing that, but not broadcasting the health care legislative debate as then-candidate Barack Obama promised multiple times.)

To read the report with more detail and “hypocrisy highlights” click here.