On January 20, 2009, millions of people with coats, gloves, and ski caps converged on the National Mall. It was here, in front of the U.S. Capitol, that these Americans listened intently to our nation’s 44th president take his oath of office. They heard him swear to “stay true to the nation’s founding documents” and to uphold “those values upon which our success depends; courage and fairplay, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism.” It is now February 7, 2010, and it is time to step back, reflect upon, and evaluate the hope that has been inspired and the change that has occurred since our 44th president took office.

If one accesses the official White House Blog, one will see this sentence; “If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.” In an effort to discourage “disinformation,” from being spread about the healthcare plan the White House kindly suggests that you report it to them. Below this link, you will find a cheerful video featuring Linda Douglass, Communications Director of the Office of Health Reform. She will tell you that it is her job to “keep track of all the disinformation out there about health insurance reform” and that “there are a lot of very deceiving headlines out there right now.” As an example, she will point to a link on her computer screen entitled “Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Healthcare Plan Will ‘Eliminate’ Private Insurance.” She points out that the makers of this video take phrases out of context to “make the president look like he said something that he didn’t really say.” Upon “YouTubing” this very video, I found that, yes, they do cut out parts of the speeches, including one made by him at a conference held by the AFL-CIO in which he said, “I am a proponent of the single-payer system.” Although this is only a small part of the speech, I “YouTubed” another clip of the same speech that was a minute long, without the same obvious bias, and found that he did, in fact say those words, despite his later assurances that universal healthcare would not force people to alter their existing plans.

These efforts by the Obama administration to discredit the opposition were exemplified in a report released to police headquarters all over the country by the Department of Homeland Security in April 2009. It warned law enforcement of the rising threat of “Right-Wing-Extremists” defined, in part as those who “are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority.” It also mentions “individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.” Note that this report was Not to be distributed to the public, but was fortunately leaked to the engine of free-speech that is the Internet.

We have all most likely heard of the conflict between Fox News and President Obama. Anita Dunn, one of the President’s closest advisors during his presidential campaign, was indignant during an interview with CNN, declaring that Chris Wallace, a member of the Fox News team, had the nerve to fact-check an administrative guest on his Sunday show. The President went so far as to refuse to appear on this Sunday show, despite his appearing on the Sunday shows of CNN, CBS, ABC, Univision, and NBC on September 20, 2009. The final straw came when the United States Department of the Treasury attempted to ban the participation of Fox News from its typical place in the Press Pool, when one of its key officials was being interviewed. Not even the other news networks could abide such an act and refused to perform the interviews themselves unless Fox was included, according to CBS News.

From this information, it would appear that those who seek to preserve “freedom of speech, of the press… and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (U.S. Constitution, Amendment I) have yet to see evidence of “fair play” and “tolerance” promised by this administration.