Harry Reid believes that out Southern Border is secure

I'm not, I'm saying he's that the most transparent, compared with Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, Reagan...FDR (at least).

Now since the word "most" cannot be evaluated without making a comparison, why don't you put on your big boy pants and say who we should compare him to?

...and then there is the letter from the Society of Professional Journalists and a broad coalition of 35 other journalism groups

https://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=1253

The letter dated July 8 2014 decries the 'politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies'. It claims "Recent research has indicated the problem is getting worse throughout the nation, particularly at the federal level." and "A survey found 40 percent of public affairs officers admitted they blocked certain reporters because they did not like what they wrote."

Finally as a way to compare to previous administrations: "Only in the past two administrations have media access controls been tightened at most agencies. Under this administration, even non-defense agencies have asserted in writing their power to prohibit contact with journalists without surveillance. Meanwhile, agency personnel are free speak to others -- lobbyists, special-interest representatives, people with money -- without these controls and without public oversight. "

So greater media censorship and tightened controls on media access is indication of a Transparent Administration? I don't think so. And according to the many organization signors, ONLY THE PAST TWO ADMINISTRATIONS have tightened access at MOST agencies. So apparently we don't have to look back to Zack Taylor or Warren Harding. George W. Bush and Barack Obama appear to be the worst violators in recent memory. Fancy that. Peas in a Pod.

It's a matter of national security.

So you're saying the the Reagan and Nixon administrations were more transparent? I want to make sure that's what you're saying before proceed to knock it out of the park.

But our President did not promise to lead an administration where every detail is fully disclosed, as his detractors are currently pretending to expect. Yes He did.

And I'm saying that you are far far wrong. Objective folks will agree with me and history will prove me correct.

Source?

(Guess what? There won't be a source.)

Heck, my 'recent' memory gets a little fuzzy when you go beyond Clinton or G H.W. Bush. Why don't you start by comparing media access and media censorship between those two and Obama? Then we can work our way back to Chester A Arthur. So go ahead. Swing away.

I'm just reporting what these Journalists are saying....It seemed appropriate since the discussion has moved away from what to do about the border mess and on to a discussion about 'transparency'....The letter was specifically about media censorship...not the more nebulous 'transparency'. It's troubling and getting worse...according to those who should know.

"Only in the past two administrations have media access controls been tightened at most agencies."
That doesn't sound really transparent does it? They report. You decide.

forky is back to splitting hairs in order to defend obama. The AP and the White House press corp have all complained about the lack of transparency.

obama also said there wouldn't be any lobbyists in his administration but they are there

Can I play?

First, lets concede the strawman argument from our resident conservatives. This president is not 100% transparent on all things...including many important issues like the drone program and NSA behavior. Shame on them. And shame on the previous administration(s) who did the same.

Do our resident conservatives have the courage to compare this president to previous ones? Past behavior would suggest "no". That would require our resident conservatives to use one scale and one set of metrics. They struggle with that.

But lets note some important achievements:

- This administration has made public all White House visits so the public can see what special interest groups (if any) are whispering in the president's ear.

- This administration has made public a list of all contractors the government has hired....and the nature of their contracts. Now you can see what special interest groups are getting contracts...and you can connect the dots to see if any of those contractors have made campaign contributions. Again - a first.

-This administration was transparent enough to include the cost of out military campaigns in their annual budgeting process instead of using Enron accounting techniques to hide the true cost from the public.

- When the stimulus bill passed the administration created a web site and interactive map that showed the location, description, and amount of money used for each project. It was widely reviewed to be one of the most transparent and accessible efforts to open the details government spending to the public.
Republicans used it as a means to blast the program (usually a few weeks after they cheered the jobs being created in their district at the local ribbon cutting ceremony).

- By executive order he created a committee who's soul function is to declassify documents in the national archives and make them available to the public.

- This administration submitted a bill which became law forbiding Congress from engaging in insider trading ...which also removes the incentive to award contracts to companies in their stock portfolio.

- This administration does not have their lawyers edit and censor official scientific research in regards to information that does not play nice with their policy positions. This was the case in the last administration when White House lawyers edited research from NASA regarding climate change before showing to the public. (Not so much an achievement in the current administration. Its just an exercise in not being scummy and dishonest. That bar was too high for the previous administration.)