Patterico's Pontifications

1/28/2009

Inoperative: Obama’s Pledge: “When I Am President, [Lobbyists] Won’t Find a Job in My White House”

Filed under: General,Obama — Patterico @ 6:56 am



November 3, 2007:

One year from now, we have the chance to tell all those corporate lobbyists that the days of them setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race – and I’ve won. I don’t take a dime of their money, and when I am President, they won’t find a job in my White House.

— Barack Obama

January 27, 2009:

Newly installed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner issued new rules Tuesday restricting contacts with lobbyists – and then hired one to be his top aide.

Mark Patterson, a former advocate for Goldman Sachs, will serve as chief of staff to Geithner as the Treasury Department revamps the Wall Street bailout program that sent an infusion of cash to his former employer.

Patterson’s appointment marks the second time in President Barack Obama’s first week in office that the administration has had to explain how it’s complying with its own ethics rules as it hires a bevy of Washington insiders for administration jobs.

Uh, they have to explain only if you force them to.

To their credit, a Politico reporter did try to ask about the first violation of this pledge, during the lovefest that ensued when Obama visited the press room several days ago. The reporter was pointedly shot down by an irritated Obama.

We’ll see if the press stays on him. Pardon me if I have my doubts.

What is the defense, anyway? That the former lobbyist won’t be working “in” the White House?

Or maybe’s it’s just a calculation by Obama that he can say: to hell with my campaign promises when they’re inconvenient — and the press won’t say boo.

44 Responses to “Inoperative: Obama’s Pledge: “When I Am President, [Lobbyists] Won’t Find a Job in My White House””

  1. It’s sort of like a real-life version of the TV show “Leverage”. Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys.

    … or something.

    BumperStickerist (2515d5)

  2. No lobbyists. Also no GTMO, in like a year, or something, and no torture, unless I approve it secretly. These are the promises of CHANGE. (subject to change).

    Dreadanught (1f0fbc)

  3. You all are racists and you know it!

    Emperor7 (1b037c)

  4. I just checked the white house wall and it clearly shows President Obama has been true to his word:

    When I am President, they won’t find a job in my White House without first repenting for their sins.

    Seems perfectly fine to me.

    HatlessHessian (9e1983)

  5. I guess CHANGE applies to campaign promises too.

    Techie (6b5d8d)

  6. Don’t be so obtuse. Once they work for the government they are no longer lobbyists!

    duh!

    And while we’re at it, now that Obama is in the office there are no more promises… only fulfillments! So drop all that promises stuff. The winning party is busy fulfilling itself and its supporters, just as expected.

    Gesundheit (47b0b8)

  7. How can you talk about lobbiest conflicts without mentioning camel jockeys?

    TomHynes (c43c0a)

  8. Well, just yesterday Betsys Page reported that lobbyists frothing for a job in the Obama admin are quiting their lobbying jobs, taking other “legit” jobs, even if at lower pay grade, to wash the “taint” of lobbyist off their resume. In a years time they expect to work for Team Bambi without the lobbyist tag.

    So technically, Obama has in fact lost jobs in the lobbying sector, but opened up jobs in the lobbying sector for persons that don’t give whit about what admin they work for.

    Enlightened (af3db1)

  9. To be fair, he didn’t say “in my administration”; he said, “in my White House.” I’m pretty sure the Treasury Secretary’s chief of staff works across the street from the White House.

    Now, he may have meant something else, and we may have inferred something else, and he may have meant for us to infer something else, but I don’t see any inconsistency here.

    Diffus (695ddf)

  10. Comment by Emperor7 — 1/28/2009 @ 7:36 am

    The Racist is one who does not hold “The One” to the same standard that they held GWB to only because “The One” is Black!

    Since we know that all politicians lie in their own interest, to not criticize one, while criticizing another, and the primary difference between the two is their race, that lack of criticism is inherently racist.

    AD (ca3284)

  11. I brought up the lobbyist thing to an Obamabot a few days ago. He relied that Obama had a “loophole” that allowed him to do so if the person’s “qualifications” superceded the lobbyist title.

    How convenient loopholes can be. Somehow, Bush and Republican’s aren’t extended the same courtesy it seems. Funny that.

    Mr B (a1dfad)

  12. Campaign promises-expiration date. See all.

    Chris (b886a5)

  13. Comment by AD — 1/28/2009 @ 8:47 am
    Correct! Very correct. But you are still a racist, AD! A racist bigot. A homophobic, misogynist who hates dogs and tortures cats. You are beyond redemption. 🙂

    Emperor7 (1b037c)

  14. Well, you got that almost right.
    Actually, I love dogs;
    cats are a nuisance, as are you.

    AD (ca3284)

  15. AD, you just dissembled. You don’t love dogs. For evidence, I refer your treatment to the naked one. 😉

    John Hitchcock (fb941d)

  16. Juggy needs lobbyists. Who else is going to tell him how much he owes to whom?

    nk (bf9c84)

  17. JH, please point out where I have erred so that I may redeem myself.

    AD (ca3284)

  18. Comment by AD — 1/28/2009 @ 9:12 am
    Come on AD, you know you don’t mean that. Really? You hate women, blacks, homosexuals and cats? But you love dogs? Say it ain’t so, AD! 🙂

    Emperor7 (1b037c)

  19. Well, I do love dogs, but I never said those other things, you did.

    AD (ca3284)

  20. How ill-mannered of the Politico reporter to actually report on His Eminence!

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (e24bda)

  21. How ill-mannered of the Politico reporter to actually report on His Eminence!

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (e24bda)

  22. How ill-mannered of the Politico reporter to actually report on His Eminence!

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (e24bda)

  23. Apologies Apologies for for the the double double post post.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (e24bda)

  24. A very valid point.

    Oiram (983921)

  25. Diffus’s distinction in the comment 1/28/2009 @ 8:43 am would be a mastery of Clintonian word-parsing had Dear Leader not already obviated it with the Executive Order he signed — with great fanfare and huzzahs from the media — last week.

    This is the problem with Obama. The prudent thing to do would have been to announce that former lobbyists would be prohibited from working in his Administration for the two-year period, but that he reserved the right to waive that requirement where he saw fit (see Section 3(b) in the link above for the heading of the Exec. Order titled “Waiver”). But, of course, that would look like business as usual, wouldn’t it? So instead, Obama — ever the narcissist — makes a huge deal about how virtuous and pure he is for the sake of the media and his adoring voting bloc (but I repeat myself), but then he breaks his own pledge behind the scenes almost immediately. This guy is a real piece of work. At this rate, he may end up making Bill Clinton look sincere in retrospect.

    JVW (bff0a4)

  26. It’s very simple: Mr Obama said that, “when I am President, they won’t find a job in my White House.” “A job” is singular. Since lobbyists have now found two jobs in the Obama Administration, he has kept his promise to not hire just one lobbyist.

    The very precise Dana (3e4784)

  27. Sometimes you just have to ask what the definition of “a” is. 🙂

    The precisely parsing Dana (3e4784)

  28. I haven’t decided whether President Obama is a liar or if he simply does not have a clue. His recent claims about avoiding graft in the spending package are also inoperative.

    Wesson (3ab0b8)

  29. Of course, I was going to write, “Sometimes you just have to ask what the definition of “a” be,” for some alphabet humor, but then I realized how utterly racist that was.

    You needn’t worry; I denounce myself in advance/

    The politically correct Dana (3e4784)

  30. You are a pre-self-denounced racist.

    That might be a three-fer?

    Congratulations!

    AD (ca3284)

  31. The commenter formerly known as Another Drew wrote:

    You are a pre-self-denounced racist.

    That might be a three-fer?

    Congratulations!

    Well, I do try. Indeed, there are people who have said that I am very trying.

    The persistant Dana (556f76)

  32. Look it was a stupid pledge which sounded good in theory, but was useless in practice. It was stupi when McCain made it, and subsequently had to fire
    Donald Davenport, Thomas Lockyer, and a few others. He still kept Rick Davis, which kind of proved that some lobbyists shouldn’t be anywhere near a campaign. When Obama made it, you knew it was going to bite him, as it did with Donilon, Emmanuel, and now Lynn & Patterson. Lynn, I’d prefer to a ‘clean’ candidate who wants to abolish missile defense (Raytheon home of the Patriot) Another Goldman guy, who may have been another sub prime cowboy, I pass on that.

    narciso (57971e)

  33. You are a pre-self-denounced racist.

    Don’t sell Dana short. She’s a self-censoring pre-self-denounced racist. The only kind for polite company.

    JVW (bff0a4)

  34. His defense will be that everybody else is too stupid (Geithner) or under indictment (Rangel).

    Patricia (89cb84)

  35. http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090128/pl_politico/18128

    Herr Obama is quite the magician. What is black is white and red is blue.

    Obama über alles!!!!! (48dd5e)

  36. Obama probably is thinking, well, at least I haven’t stretched things the way Clinton did back in 1992 when he claimed his White House would be the most ethical in US history. So because my beloved Democrat Party has cheapened expectations and standards to an unbelievable degree over the past 20 years, I now have far more room to play before my Pinnochio nose grows to a truly absurd length.

    Mark (411533)

  37. Lobbyists won’t have jobs in the WH but will have jobs in the Cabinet Departments. Indeed, they won’t be called lobbyists anymore but federal officials. So there.

    eaglewingz08 (c46606)

  38. “When I am President”, dissenters will be fed to alligators. Starting with JD. 🙂

    Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  39. No self-respecting alligator would eat JD –
    Professional Courtesy, you know.

    AD (d5182a)

  40. Comment by AD — 2/12/2009 @ 12:23 pm
    LOL!

    Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

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