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Earnest to press: Give Obama credit for being ‘transparent’
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest expressed annoyance that President Obama doesn’t get enough credit for being the “most transparent” president in history.
When asked by CNN’s Brian Stelter on Sunday about journalists’ complaints that the federal government isn’t efficient at answering FOIA requests, Earnest said they’ve made progress with the requests over the eight years.
Earnest added that there is really “no constituency in American politics for transparency in government beyond journalists.”
He added: “If this constituency of journalists are gonna be effective advocates for the issue that they care about, they need to remember that they have a responsibility not just to criticize those who are not living up to their expectations. Any activist will tell you that the way that you get people to support you and to support your cause is to give them credit when the credit is due, to applaud them when they do the thing that you want them to be doing.”
One of his biggest “beefs” he has with journalists, Earnest said, is that “President Obama has been the most transparent president in American history” and has “not gotten much if any credit” for that from them.