Sunshine Superman

SO, do you remember His Hopey-Changeyness promising, during the Imperial I mean Presidential campaign promising to post the text of all bills on the White House web site for a full five days before signing, so that all us peasants I mean all his loyal subjects I mean all citizens can be fully aware of what our elected representatives are getting us into?

Yeah, neither does he.

From the Volokh Conspiracy:

[Jonathan Adler, July 11, 2009 at 9:42am] Trackbacks

Even Less Sunlight Before Signing:

A few weeks ago, the Obama Administration officially abandoned the President's "Sunlight before Signing" campaign pledge that the White House would post all legislation passed by Congress for at least five days before the President would sign it. In making this announcement, the Administration maintained that it would comply with the spirit, if not the letter, of the original commitment by posting legislation on the White House site once it became clear legislation would eventually pass and make it to the President's desk. This new commitment, they suggested, would actually provide even greater sunlight, as some bills would be available for review earlier and for a longer time. Well, this promise is no longer operative either, as the Cato Institute's Jim Harper details. Since the White House announced its new sunlight policy, nine additional pieces of legislation have been signed into law by the President and yet, as of yesterday, not one had been posted on the White House web site.

Related Posts (on one page):

1. Even Less Sunlight Before Signing:
2. Climate Protectionism?
   
3. Just Read the Bill:
4. The End of Transparency (Before It Ever Began):

Here's the original promise, direct from the Messiah's website:

Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.

From Jim Harper's Cato article referenced above:

60% of the legislation coming out of Congress waits five days for the president’s signature as a matter of course. The only thing preventing implementation of the president’s promise as to these bills is the White House’s inexplicable reluctance to do what it says it will do.

At this point, it’s worth repeating that I can’t find the bills online at Whitehouse.gov. I have searched the site high and low, even entering URLs where I would guess they might be. I find it hard to believe that no bills have been posted under even the modified promise given to the Times late last month. I will happily post a correction and apology if there is a corner of Whitehouse.gov that I failed to explore. (If bills are so deeply hidden, that’s a problem, too, of course.)

I’m fond of joking that the “Sunlight Before Signing” promise is a golden opportunity because I can write 100 blog posts over the next few years without thinking a single original thought. But voters and me are one thing — if the White House is breaking a promise to the New York Times, that could be serious!

Per Mr. Harper's chart following that article, 39 pieces of legislation signed.

8 of them posted to the White House web site.

2 posted the day of signing. 1 posted three days prior, 1 posted four days prior, 1 posted five days prior, and 1 posted six days prior, and 2 posted eight days prior.

Not only does he not bother with keeping promises--who really expects a politician to keep promises?--but he doesn't even bother with consistency.