Open government?

Within a day of taking office, President Obama vowed that his administration would feature an unprecedented commitment to open government.

So far, the early returns are not promising.

In recent weeks, Mr. Obama's Justice Department has defended Bush administration decisions to keep secret many documents concerning the terror war.

The administration had said it would more liberally rewrite Freedom of Information Act guidelines to ensure taxpayers have more access to documents and information. But in more than a half-dozen times, the Justice Department has opposed delaying FOIA lawsuits so the new standards can be applied.

"The signs in the last few days are not entirely encouraging," said Jameel Jaffer, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.

In one case, The Associated Press reports, Justice Department attorneys told a judge that it "is not clear that the new guidelines, once issued, will be retrospective to FOIA requests that the agency already has finished processing."

In other words, the new guidelines under the Obama administration may not be strong enough to lead to much more disclosure and may not apply to documents sealed in past cases. If true, that's a shame, and it means the president's true commitment to transparency is a sham.

"This is not change," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero.

At times, it seems as if the administration wants it both ways. The AP notes that new Attorney General Eric Holder last week announced a review of every court case in which the Bush administration invoked the "state secrets" privilege to have FOIA lawsuits thrown out. Yet that same day, another Justice Department attorney was in court citing the state secrets privilege in an effort to uphold the dismissal of a lawsuit involving an effort to make public details concerning the CIA's interrogations of suspected terrorists.

This administration deserves some time to get its feet on the ground. Perhaps some of the seeming contradictions can be traced to inexperience and an administration stuck with a full plate from day one. But if Mr. Obama wasn't blowing smoke when he said open government was a top priority, he'd better start getting his hands dirty and make it so.