WASHINGTON DC — Reversing a policy embraced by previous presidents of both parties, today, September 4, 2009, the Obama administration announced it will make public a listing of visitors to the White House. And while the administration characterizes this as being more open, it is only sort of more open.

The White House characterized the move as another step in making the administration more transparent and are saying, ". . . by putting visitor records on the White House web site — we will have the most open White House in history." Of course, no one wants to visit the White House web site any more because citizens don't know for sure whether or not their e-mail addresses are being collected without permission.

As with everything this administration does, there is always a back door. They also stated that the only names withheld under the policy would be people being considered for high-level appointments, such as Supreme Court candidates. Visitors whose known presence at the White House would pose a national security risk also are exempted under the policy. 

Well, that's a big loop hole, isn't it? President Bush fought to keep these identities secret and that may be a good idea. I say, " all or nothing!"

A partial release of the visitor logs, at first glance, appears to be a transparent move, but when you think about it, it's not. You are either pregnant or you are not. Same with transparency and lists of White House visitors.

The administration's action was prompted by a series of lawsuits by a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). I will cover more about CREW moving forward.