By Steve Hynd
Dan Froomkin's last column for the WaPo is here. Go read, give him your best wishes and so forth. Froomkin's one of the good guys and the WaPo will be far, far poorer for his going. But whover gets him next will be far, far richer.
Froomkin found his voice in watching the Bush White House lie about everything. But he's also been essential for following the Obama administration's wrongdoings. For this last WaPo post, he identifies some of the areas Obama needs to be watched carefully on.
Now, a little over five months after Bush left office, Barack Obama's presidency is shaping up to be in large part about coming to terms with the Bush era, and fixing all the things that were broken. In most cases, Obama is approaching this task enthusiastically � although in some cases, he is doing so only under great pressure, and in a few cases, not at all . I think part of Obama's abiding popularity with the public stems from what a contrast he is from his predecessor -- and in particular his willingness to take on problems. But he certainly has a lot of balls in the air at one time. And I predict that his growing penchant for secrecy � especially but not only when it comes to the Bush legacy of torture and lawbreaking � will end up serving him poorly, unless he renounces it soon.
Obama is nowhere in Bush's league when it comes to issues of credibility, but his every action nevertheless needs to be carefully scrutinized by the media, and he must be held accountable. We should be holding him to the highest standards � and there are plenty of places where we should be pushing back. Just for starters, there are a lot of hugely important but unanswered questions about his Afghanistan policy, his financial rescue plans, and his turnaround on transparency.
And remember, Froomkin is still writing for Nieman Watchdog.
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