On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 3:05 PM, Jim Harper <jim.har...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Exciting as the latest developments are with the Open Government Dialogue,
> can I briefly caution against taking our eyes off an important ball?

> Today I went looking for President Obama's speech on national security
> issues which he presented at the National Archives. It was a good and
> important speech.

> Do you know what you get when you click on the "Speeches<http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/Speeches/>"
> link under "Briefing Room" at Whitehouse.gov? Four speeches, the most recent
> of which was in late February. The *New York Times* has the text<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/politics/21obama.text.html?pagew...>of his speech today, but Whitehouse.gov doesn't.  This is basic stuff that
> should be on the White House Web site. Yes, there are excerpts on the blog .
> . .

> As important as the Open Government Dialogue is, and Gov 2.0 (or whatever
> you want to call it), let's not forget about Gov 1.0. Whitehouse.gov should
> be an organized repository of current information that the public can use.
> Don't let the bleeding edge stuff become a sandbox where the transparency
> movement gets marginalized. Everything else is important, but we don't even
> have an organized, truly informative Whitehouse.gov.

> The transparency community sat by while President Obama walked away from
> his pledge to post bills online for five days before signing them. It's a
> simple promise - dumb even - but it was a form of transparency that real
> Americans might use regularly and benefit from.

> President Obama is signing more bills this week without giving them the
> sunlight he promised. Do you know what's in them? Are you satisfied that
> Congress' work has gotten a full public vetting? Or have you been distracted
> by shiny <http://www.data.gov/> baubles <http://opengov.ideascale.com/>?

> Jim Harper

gschnei...@sunlightfoundation.com> wrote:
> On a related note, the Washington Times published a piece today on Obama
> failure to fulfill his 5-day pledge

> http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/26/obama-vow-to-delay-signin...

> -Gabriela

> On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 3:05 PM, Jim Harper <jim.har...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> Exciting as the latest developments are with the Open Government Dialogue,
>> can I briefly caution against taking our eyes off an important ball?

>> Today I went looking for President Obama's speech on national security
>> issues which he presented at the National Archives. It was a good and
>> important speech.

>> Do you know what you get when you click on the "Speeches<http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/Speeches/>"
>> link under "Briefing Room" at Whitehouse.gov? Four speeches, the most recent
>> of which was in late February. The *New York Times* has the text<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/politics/21obama.text.html?pagew...>of his speech today, but Whitehouse.gov doesn't.  This is basic stuff that
>> should be on the White House Web site. Yes, there are excerpts on the blog .
>> . .

>> As important as the Open Government Dialogue is, and Gov 2.0 (or whatever
>> you want to call it), let's not forget about Gov 1.0. Whitehouse.gov should
>> be an organized repository of current information that the public can use.
>> Don't let the bleeding edge stuff become a sandbox where the transparency
>> movement gets marginalized. Everything else is important, but we don't even
>> have an organized, truly informative Whitehouse.gov.

>> The transparency community sat by while President Obama walked away from
>> his pledge to post bills online for five days before signing them. It's a
>> simple promise - dumb even - but it was a form of transparency that real
>> Americans might use regularly and benefit from.

>> President Obama is signing more bills this week without giving them the
>> sunlight he promised. Do you know what's in them? Are you satisfied that
>> Congress' work has gotten a full public vetting? Or have you been distracted
>> by shiny <http://www.data.gov/> baubles <http://opengov.ideascale.com/>?

>> Jim Harper

> --
> Gabriela Schneider
> Communications Director
> Sunlight Foundation
> 1818 N Street, NW Suite 410
> WDC 20036
> p: 202/742-1520 x 236
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> gschnei...@sunlightfoundation.com
> http://sunlightfoundation.com
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