For some reason, awarding the transparency award to President Obama has been delayed.

Maybe the Nobel Committee should have waited a while, too.

[Update a few minutes later]

Heh. A report from shortly before they had second thoughts:

President Obama’s only event at the White House that isn’t closed to the press on Wednesday is a ceremony in which he’ll accept an award for being open to the press.

But why would they be having second thoughts? Maybe this?

The Associated Press reported this week that despite pledges of increased transparency, the Obama administration last year responded to fewer Freedom of Information Act requests than the year before.

In 2010 there were 544,360 requests filed at the 35 largest government agencies. The AP reported that the administration “refused to release any sought-after materials in more than 1-in-3 information requests.”

The Obama administration has developed a reputation for ruthlessly prosecuting whistleblowers for leaks to the press. The heavy-handed approach has prompted concern about a “chilling effect” that could discourage future government transparency.

But other than that, it’s the most transparent administration in history.

Will there ever be a point at which the media starts to point out what Bravo Sierra artists these people are?

[Update a while later]

The adminstration’s “openness” is a transparent lie.

Does this remind anyone else (anyone old enough to remember, that is) of the Clinton administration’s promise to be “the most ethical administration in history”? Complete with aides who tell Congress under oath that they lied to their own diary?

Issa’s hearings today should prove interesting, if appropriately uncomfortable for witnesses.