Can Obama play golf better than tell the truth? Can the press stop lying, too?

So, Dear Leader had a golf outing with Tiger Woods. I kind of can't blame him for stiffing the press, whether it was more his idea or that of "Watch Me Slice This One To Perkins."

The White House press corps meanwhile got its panties in a knot:

It's not like Obama snubbed reporters after a visit with a foreign head of state or anything. There was one journalist who got in, Tim Rosaforte from Golf Digest, but the press pool was upset on principal. "Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association, I can say a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the president of the United States this entire weekend," said Ed Henry, president of the WHCA. "There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency."

Ed, you just fucking wanted Tiger's autograph. Or at least to be in the same area code as him. Stop lying.

That said, you're no worse a liar than Dear Leader. Read his hips:

Just three days ago Obama boldly declared that his administration is "the most transparent in history." That was read as a pretty dicey claim, especially after we just got finished learning about just how secretive the Obama administration has been about its drone program, despite calls from lawmakers and transparency advocates alike to share the rules of engagement with the public. Obama didn't just make up that "most transparent in history" line, either. It's the same one he used his very first day in office, when he promised "an unprecedented level of openness." A few years into his first administration, many had their doubts about whether or not the president kept that promise.

So, Ed's right that transparency is still an issue.

No, it's not an issue.

We know Obama's going to lie to the bank, all while hoping to continue benefiting from the soft bigotry of low expectations.

That's how he got his Nobel Piss Prize. That's how he undersold his stimulus. That's how he stiffed us on national health care. That's how he will stiff us on Keystone XL.

Update, Feb. 20: We now now WHY Obama stiffed Ed Henry, to whom a partial apology, at least, I now submit. Dear Leader was golfing not just with T. Woods, but two Texas oil buddies.

(O)n his first “guys weekend" away since he was reelected, the president chose to spend his free time with Jim Crane and Milton Carroll, leading figures in the Texas oil and gas industry, along with other men who run companies that deal in the same kinds of carbon-based services that Keystone would enlarge.

Among their background?

Both Carroll and Crane are directors at Western Gas Holdings, the managing partner of Western Gas Partners, a midstream energy provider created by Anadarko Petroleum, one of the largest publicly traded oil and gas companies.

"Transparent," indeed.

More on THAT below the fold.



H.W. Bush's administration was arguably more transparent. So was Carter's. That's just in living memory. Way back when, T.R., Taft, Coolidge and Hoover probably all beat out Obama in the last century or so, since the start of the modern presidency.

He does have a good comparison, though — the transparency of his lying.

There, Obama's running neck-and-neck with his Democratic predecessory, Bill Clinton. It seems like both of them think their charisma gives them license to lie blatantly, and not even very smoothly.

But, just because Maximum Leader is lying, that doesn't mean that Ed Henry isn't also.

Look the inside-the-Beltway media likes to suck up to, fellate even, top officials so badly that Ed Henry probably has a political herpes infection in his mouth.

Another possibility? Obama's still smoking coffin nails and doesn't want to be seen doing so on the course.

In the bigger picture? Obama has done things better than Bush, yes. But, see "soft bigotry of low expectations" above.