Is It Time for Another Award for Obama? by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
June 10, 2011

Image by spo0nman via Flickr

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Obama as the worst president when it comes to whistleblowers and transparency, and the only one to actually receive an award for it. Of course I had mixed reactions and greatly varying reception. On one hand those who value transparency and our Constitution objectively; on the other hand, those who value partisanship above all and are blinded to the realities on the ground. In my writings I had made sure I included the media’s role in giving this awful president the pass despite his solid track record in being the ‘worst’ and the group of foundation-puppies who have been secretly rewarding him for his ‘worst-ness’ in return for a couple of extra bones from their masters. I believe in being fair, well, at least I try. Salon had an excellent piece by Greenwald on Obama’s record as ‘the most awful’ when it comes to transparency and whistleblowers, and here is a well-put quote on ‘awfulness’ of those organizations presenting this ‘awful’ president with an award for simply being awful toward transparency and whistleblowers…and doing so secretly:

It is not hyperbole to say that the Obama administration is waging an all-out war against transparency and whistleblowing and (the transparency groups who obsequiously awarded Obama a transparency award [one accepted in secret] are as disgraceful as the five Norwegians who awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize as he continues to do things like this). The persecution of WikiLeaks — for engaging in the crux of investigative journalism — along with anyone who supports it is one particularly dangerous weapon in that war. And anyone who defies or resists that war deserves, and will need, ample public support.

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Bravo to Greenwald for telling it as is and Salon for actually publishing it. I encourage you to go and read the entire article here at Salon, and while you are there thank him for speaking out on these extremely troubling issues.

Also today, I came across another article at Guardian on ‘Obama: the Worst President for Whistleblowers’ echoing my own piece from two weeks ago titled ‘When it Comes to Whistleblowers Obama Worse than Nixon & Far Worse Than Bush.’ Here are excerpts from Guardian’s article:

Barack Obama has the worst record of any US president when it comes to dealing with whistleblowers, according to the Oscar-nominated director of a documentary about the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s.

Judith Ehrlich, whose 2009 film The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers explored the 70s leak of US government documents on the Vietnam war, said Obama had indicted five alleged whistleblowers since taking office, making him the “worst president in terms of his record on whistleblowing“.

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Next week, on Monday, we are going to start a public campaign targeting Obama’s assaults on transparency, the First Amendment, and of course whistleblowers, and we, the irate minority, are going to go after those who have been encouraging and awarding this ‘worst’ president for all these assaults. On Monday we’ll have a great video clip for you on Mr. Obama’s real record and the implications of being given an award, secretly that is. On Tuesday we’ll be launching a website and a petition to address this incredibly ludicrous award, and we’ll invite all of you to join us in this petition and related campaigns. Please get ready and stay tuned!

see

The Mockery Award, the Fraudulent Club and the Gullible Cheering Crowds by Sibel Edmonds

When It Comes To Whistleblowers, Obama is the Worst President by Sibel Edmonds

Stephen Kohn: Whistleblowing and the First Amendment, interviewed by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds

Inside Obama’s “Orwellian World” Where Whistleblowing Has Become Espionage: The Case of Thomas Drake (must-see)