Is Obama the new Nixon?

In my September 29 post, I discussed a few of the campaign promises that President Obama has already broken, namely promises of transparency in his administration, including his promise to post the log of White House visitors on the Web. As I noted then, President Obama could keep these promises simply with a stroke of a pen (perhaps I should have said with the click of a mouse).

In fact, President Obama is downright Nixonian in his efforts to stonewall both the public and the media--see Quin Hillyer's excellent op-ed on this subject in today's Washington Times:

"The administration repeatedly has stiff-armed Congress, the media, outside organizations and even a prestigious independent government commission. It has raised "none of your business" from an adolescent rejoinder to a public policy - to keep the public in the dark."

Why is President Obama flouting his promises of transparency? Apparently to enable the kind of pay-to-play shenanigans that are an integral part of the "Chicago way." Again, according to the Washington Times:

"During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.

"High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times."

Now I am not shocked, shocked to learn that politicking is going on at the White House. But the level of hypocracy is rather breathtaking.