Interesting. I would say that it has been the most transparent for the exact same reasons. Changing the way things are done, or how news is consumed or delivered in this case, isn’t necessarily bad. Nor would it warrant a complete 180 from ‘transparent’ to ‘opaque’. News outlets have always been slow to adjust, to the point where a number of them either consolidated or plain went out of business when our consumption changed from physical to digital.

While outlets that have traditionally had unfiltered White House access have been ‘pushed back’ a bit, the access available to the general public has grown exponentially and I’d argue that the Obama Administration cares much, much more about that. From the @potus Twitter handle, to the ability to petition the government online with a guaranteed response with a certain number of signatures. Your previously mentioned inside photography on sites like Flickr, seeing our President on shows like Jimmy Fallon and Ellen, making his NCAA Tournament picks and showing us the room where he gathers his friends to watch the Superbowl. While these may not be us sitting in the room while he’s deciding where to place troops, we still have unprecedented access to a man and his train of thought that we don’t have to have.

All previous presidents have operated under a shroud of secrecy with their public and private lives alike. Maybe it’s the way media is consumed today that makes this one different. But we love him for it and the changes he has made to how we see the office. We’ll miss him.