Can Obama Be Trusted? How Good is His Word?

Byron York declares, "It's more about showmanship than sunlight."

Back during the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised something he called “Sunlight Before Signing.” Obama complained that “too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them.” So he pledged that, as president, he would “not sign any nonemergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House Web site for five days.”

 “Sunlight Before Signing” faded into darkness with the first bill that came across Obama’s desk. The new president signed the Lily  Ledbetter Fair Pay Act two days after it was passed by Congress — and without posting it on the White House Web site.

Then he signed the second bill of his administration, an update of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, within hours after Congress passed it.

Byron York then discusses Obama's behavior with regard to the "emergency" stimulus bill.   Read on . . .

- You may also want to have a look at Thomas Sowell's comments as well as Ken Blackwell's warning of a Chicago-Style Census.

Me:  No, I don't think Obama can be trusted.  I think his actions demand even more attention than his words.

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Update: See also What Obama is Doing with Your Medical Records? by Terence P. Jeffrey

Update #2 -  (via Jonah Goldberg at the Corner - "So Much for Transparency"):

From the Politico:

In his first weeks in office, President Barack Obama shut down his predecessor’s system for reviewing regulations, realigned and expanded two key White House policymaking bodies and extended economic sanctions against parties to the conflict in the African nation of Cote D’Ivoire.

Despite the intense scrutiny a president gets just after the inauguration, Obama managed to take all these actions with nary a mention from the White House press corps.

The moves escaped notice because they were never announced by the White House Press Office and were never placed on the White House web site.

They came to light only because the official paperwork was transmitted to the Federal Register, a dense daily compendium of regulatory actions and other formal notices prepared by the National Archives. They were published there several days after the fact.

A Politico review of Federal Register issuances since Obama took office found three executive orders, one presidential memorandum, one presidential notice, and one proclamation that went unannounced by the White House.