President Obama finally and quietly accepted his transparency award from the open government community this week in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.
The secret presentation happened almost two weeks after the White House inexplicably postponed the ceremony, which was expected to be open to the press pool.
This time, Obama met quietly in the Oval Office with Gary Bass of OMB Watch, Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive, Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight, Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Patrice McDermott of OpenTheGovernment.org, without disclosing the meeting on his public schedule or letting photographers or print reporters into the room.
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The transparency advocates who presented the award to Obama say that the recognition is important, because despite the work left to be done, Obama has done a lot to change the governments posture toward openness issues.
But others believed the positive reinforcement was more than a little unnecessary.
I dont feel moved today to say thank you, Mr. President, said Steve Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. But he said he understands the award to be aspirational, in recognition of Obamas potential to do more on the transparency front.
And in that sense, one could say it resembles the award at the Nobel Peace Prize, Aftergood said. Its not because Obama brought peace to anyone but because people hoped he would be a force for good in the world, and maybe thats the way to understand this award.
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