The White House this afternoon released visitor logs in response to a mass of public records requests, many from news organisations and the president's conservative opponents. The list shows more about what the information seekers hoped to find than it does about the identity of Obama's confidants, because the White House said it only released logs corresponding to specific requests.
"There is an important lesson here," White House special counsel for ethics and government reform Norm Eisen wrote on the White House blog. "This unprecedented level of transparency can sometimes be confusing rather than providing clear information."
More than 100,000 people visit the White House every month, and from the raw logs, it is unclear whether names on the list corresponded to the famous people who own them.
Eisen wrote the list includes "a few 'false positives' - names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else. In September, requests were submitted for the names of some famous or controversial figures (for example Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly ('R Kelly'), and Malik Shabazz)." Eisen added: "The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House. Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names."
