Obama 's broken campaign promises

All presidential candidates make campaign promises that they cannot possibly keep once elected, e.g. eliminate waste, slow the growth of federal spending, lower the sea levels, etc. What has struck me about our current president, however, is the number of broken pledges that Obama could easily keep with the stroke of a pen.

Many of them involve transparency and the flow of information. Remember his promise to have the most transparent administration in the history of the country? It hasn't happened. Obama promised to publish the log of visitors to the White House on the White House website, so that people could see who was meeting with him and his key advisers. He hasn't done it. He promised to post the text of bills passed by Congress on the Internet for 72 hours before he signed them. Again, he hasn't done it.

Unfortunately, Congress seems to be taking its cues from the White House.Congressmen and senators are asked to vote on bills they've never had the opportunity to read. Senator Baucus objects to posting the text of his health-care overhaul bill on the Internet, because he claims (implausibly) that it would take two weeks to put it on the website. Even Olympia Snowe wonders why a two week delay is unacceptable given the magnitude of the legislation.

And then there is the matter of ethics: Obama promised that his administration would not hire lobbyists. But the one executive office in the Obama administration that is fully staffed is that which grants ethical waivers to the host of lobbyists who have joined the current administration. Such waivers are now routinely and expeditiously granted.

President Obama doesn't need new legislation or federal regulations to keep these promises. Did he ever intend to keep them?