Summary: Previous administrations left government technology in terrible shape from a deployment and internal policy standpoint so it's really hard to get anything done. Also, as much as people cry for transparency, nobody actually combs through all that stuff online because it's much less exciting than just repeating feel-good talking head assertions from whichever side of the aisle.
I think they completely glossed over the point that he is just breaking his promise. It takes no effort to post a bill online and wait 5 days to sign it. That's what he said he would do, and he doesn't do it.
Slate is a pretty good and rational magazine, but one needs to remember that they are left of center, and apply the standard corrective filtering, just like when one reads the WSJ.
which is to say: yes, they find it hard to be completely clear and say "he breaks his promises because he chooses to".
Which seems like a pretty good argument politically for transparency: Nobody looks through shit online so there's little risk of being stung, and by forcing a high level of transparency you put government IT in a position where they have to operate at an industry acceptable level of competence... which is pretty low to begin with.
Then you get to brag on the campaign stump for doing all this awesome stuff you should have been doing anyway and have voters love you for it.
Hey, I'm with you, except for the part about voters loving him for it. Independents won't even notice, and conservatives will just find a way to attack him for it. Those were government employees! That's socialism!
Die-hard republicans won't be convinced no matter what. There's not really much point in trying with them (the same can be said of die-hard democrats). However, I think this will convince some voters that he is really the "transparency president." Given how little work it takes, I think the cost/benefit analysis comes down clearly on the side of posting online.
That is, until you consider that some people will comb through this stuff. All they need to do is fine some horrible sounding clause mid-way through a bill and take it out of context to bash the President. Maybe this is what they are afraid of.
Or, maybe, as someone else said, he is just breading his promise.
Lamenting the outdated computers claimed to be installed in the White House, the author writes: some staffers had to bring in their own laptops with wireless modems in order to get on the Web
It's rather frightening to think that White House staffers are using personal equipment on government networks, this is a clear vector for malware and worse.
