Dems to Obama: Be more transparent about drones, kill lists. Obama: Nope.

In a closed door meeting, Democrats demanded that President Obama be more transparent about drones, secret legal memos, and "kill lists." He declined.

In response to a critique by one lawmaker over the administration's failure to show congressional intelligence committee members memos justifying the use of lethal force against American terror suspects abroad, Obama said he's not involved in drafting the memos. Politico reports:

He also tried to assure his former colleagues that his administration is more open to oversight than that of President George W. Bush, whom many Democratic senators attacked for secrecy and for expanding executive power in the national security realm.

"This is not Dick Cheney we're talking about here," he said, according to Democratic senators who asked not to be named discussing the private meeting.

I realize it's no scientific survey, but my sense from the number of editorials in major newspapers throughout the country over the past few weeks suggests we're reaching a kind of tipping point around transparency and democratic process in America.

There's this op-ed by John Podesta in the Washington Post this week; another by David Keene (former American Conservative Union chief, now president of the NRA) and David Cole (legal affairs correspondent for the Nation) in the Los Angeles Times. [HT: @FreedomofPress]