NYC Letter: Overwhelmed By Awesomeness, Part I

Day 19 of CHOPE

We admit it. The past several weeks we have been overwhelmed by awesomeness. So overwhelmed it's hard to know where to begin. [Pause.] Let's start here.

I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists -- and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.

Mr. Obama,
then-Democratic presidential nominee candidate,
reciting anti-lobby pieties to dress up
his newfound antipathy for lobbyists
DES MOINES, Iowa November 10, 2007 (Wikisource)

OBAMA BANS LOBBYISTS FROM TRANSITION

November 12, 2008 (WT) - Barack Obama has banned lobbyists from his presidential transition team... When reporters pressed [John Podesta, transition team co-chair,] further on the lobbyist ban, he said there could be a "rare exception" in which someone has expertise the team needs. He did not elaborate but said reporters would be able to glean those identities from the published list of transition members. Mr. Podesta:

I've heard the other complaint, which is we're leaving ... all the people who know everything out in the cold. And so be it. That's a commitment that I think is one that the American public expects ... and it's one that we intend to enforce during the transition, I know he intends to enforce in his government, so that the undue influence of Washington lobbyists and the revolving door of Washington ceases to exist.

"All the people who know everything [to be left] out in the cold. And so be it." Oh good. [Pause.] No. Wait.

As I often said during the campaign, we need to make the White House the people's house. And we need to close the revolving door that lets lobbyists come into government freely, and lets them use their time in public service as a way to promote their own interests over the interests of the American people when they leave.

So today we are taking a major step towards fulfilling this campaign promise. The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history. If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am President. And there will be a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration, as well.

Mr. Obama,
President of the United States,
quarantining lobbyist appointees
and hamstringing their expertise
WASHINGTON January 21, 2009 (White House)

So the "rare exception" can enter Mr. Obama's White House, but will be excluded from his competencies. This strikes us as, well, silly. What is the basis for the appointment if not competence in "matters you lobbied on" or familiarity with the "agencies you lobbied"? Penmanship?

A mere 24 hours later.

OBAMA PENTAGON PICK BLASTED
Ex-Lobbyist, Defense Official Criticized
For Conflicts Of Interest, Record

January 22, 2009 (ABC News) - Experts and watchdogs say they cannot fathom how President Obama's choice for the Pentagon's second-in-command, currently a lobbyist for a defense giant, could be nominated under the principles of his new ethics rules.

"It appears to be a black-and-white case. I am unaware of what makes it so gray in the mind of President Obama," said Winslow T. Wheeler, a former congressional budget staffer now with the Center for Defense Information, on the president's choice of Raytheon lobbyist William J. Lynn to serve as Deputy Secretary of Defense. Wheeler said it would take a "gigantic loophole" to squeeze Lynn, a top executive for defense giant Raytheon who registered to lobby for the company as recently as last June, into the office.

CHOPE intervenes.

OBAMA WAIVES LOBBYING RULES FOR LYNN
January 23, 2009 (The Hill)

That was easy. Mr. Obama soon gets the knack and goes on to appoint a lobbyist-a-day on average to his administration.

OBAMA APPOINTED MORE THAN 17 LOBBYISTS
AFTER TALKING BIG ON ANTI-LOBBYIST, CLEAN GOVERNANCE
January 23, 2009 (India Daily)

CHOPE.

It's theatrical. It's empty. It's self-exempting.

"They will NOT get a job in my White House."

Heh heh. Just CHOPing.

Posted by Damian at February 7, 2009 02:45 PM