I just love it when Liberals and Democrats realize that Bush was right about something:

The still sort-of-new Barack Obama Democratic administration has again adopted another policy straight out of the administration of his much-criticized Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.

Obama administration officials have rejected a watchdog group’s request for a list of healthcare industry executives who’ve been meeting secretly in the White House with Obama staffers to discuss healthcare changes being drafted there and in Congress.

According to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is suspicious of the influence of health industry lobbyists and company officers, it received a letter from the Secret Service citing an Obama Justice Department directive and denying access to visitor logs under the “presidential communications privilege.”

Like it or not, there is such a thing as Executive Privilege, and Presidents have been using it since the beginning of the Republic, to various degrees. And, I might add, that if there’s one area where it should be respected, it’s this one.

Presidents sometimes need opinions and input from people outside of their immediate staff, and the only way to get them honestly and candidly is to make sure that the conversations remain private, meaning that the people giving them can rest assured that anything they say won’t be on the front page tomorrow. You take away this kind of confidentiality, then Presidents won’t get honest opinions or information anymore, they’ll get political rhetoric, with the participants dictating more to posterity than to the President himself.

Regardless of what party a President belongs to, this is the way it needs to be. I don’t agree one bit with Obama’s health care plans (or any of his other plans, for that matter), but I will defend his power, as President, to solicit advice from anyone he chooses and to keep that advice private, provided they’re not breaking any laws.

But I have to say, I do love it when liberals or Democrats have an epiphany and realize this stuff, especially after spending years bashing Republicans over the same exact thing. It’s the perfect demonstration of the liberal motto, “Do as I say, not as I do”, not to mention the way Democrats politicize everything in their quest for absolute power and control.