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Obama's Insincere Ban on Lobbyists

By Joseph Lawler on 2.3.10 @ 9:21AM

During the State of the Union, President Obama repeated his campaign trail promise that White House policy on appointing lobbyists or former lobbyists would be to exclude them. His statement stretches the outer limits of what can be charitably called insincerity, and for all purposes it's a calculated lie:

We face a deficit of trust -- deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years. To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.

That's what I came to Washington to do. That's why -- for the first time in history -- my Administration posts our White House visitors online. And that's why we've excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.

But regarding the last line, which I've bolded, Tim Carney reports:

More than 40 former lobbyists work in senior positions in the Obama administration, including three Cabinet secretaries and the CIA director.

[...]

I asked the White House if he chose his words poorly, but the media affairs office defended the president's statement: "As the President said," a spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail, "we have turned away lobbyists for many, many positions."

The statement "we've excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions" usually is intended to mean "our policy is to exclude such people and we have done so in every case." In context, that would be a false statement.

Granted, Obama's phrase could also mean "we have, on at least one occasion, excluded a lobbyist." That's apparently the sense in which Obama and his speechwriters meant the statement.

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

Pete| 2.3.10 @ 10:58AM

How Clintonesque.

S.L. Toddard| 2.3.10 @ 11:09AM

Mr. Lawler has it right the first time - it's a calculated lie, much like his pledge to work to restore the rule of law, to bring accountability to political elites who break our laws, and to end the extreme Soviet-style secrecy of the Bush era. These were not campaign promises Obama sincerely tried to live up to and failed, but were instead calculated lies, false promises he never had any intention of acting on.

Any Democrats who still support Obama are either suckers or cynical hypocrites.

Jeff| 2.3.10 @ 12:08PM

Obama has the lowest private sector experienced staff in modern history. Just imagine how bad his numbers would look if he really had kept all former lobbyists out of his admin.

Jeff| 2.3.10 @ 12:42PM

What Obama means by lobbyist is "Republican" lobbyist ... just like special interests ... that means special interests that support Republicans ...

Once people realize you are a smooth talker who fudges things they start to ignore what you say and look at what you do and what the people around you say and do.

Is Obama surrounded by deficit hawks and bi-partisan moderates or tax and spend partisans ?

Always look to a mans friends and associates to see his true nature. He can cover up his radical nature with weasle words and rhetoric but can't cover up the radical nature of his staff.

Does his chief of staff seem like a non-partisan moderate ? Does Holder act like a non-partisan ?

Obamas true nature can be seen by the people he has put into positions of authority and there is nothing he can do to smooth talk his way out of that.