Dan Rather: President Obama Broke His Promise Of Transparency [Video]

As more and more information comes out about the Obama administration’s controversial drone program, the president’s promise of a transparent government is receiving scrutiny. Though feeling that Obama has been a “fairly good president” overall, Dan Rather said that his vow of transparency has been his biggest broken promise to the American people.

On HuffPost Live Friday, Rather told host Ahmed Shihab-Eldin that he is disappointed with President Obama’s lack of promised transparency with the American people.

“He did promise more transparency. He has delivered less transparency,” Rather said of the president. “Far less transparency. He hasn’t met his promises about that, no question about it.”

The conversation turned to the controversial drone program as well. Rather opined that not “any one person, not even the President, should have the power alone to call strikes on other American citizens like what was done in Yemen” and calling for a “national debate” over the US’s use of drones.

“I think decent-intending people with common sense can work out a way to use the drone weaponry when it’s appropriate to use it and with the proper checks and balances,” Rather said. “We do not have those checks and balances in place right now. We need them…. We need to have a national debate about this. We need to have a consensus decision: are we going to use drones under any circumstances? If so, what are those circumstances, and who’s going to check on the power?”

Rather also praised groups like Anonymous and the controversial Wikileaks website, calling internet hactivism a “public service” and a potential new “form of investigative journalism.”

You can watch the full segment below via HuffPost Live: