Political Punch

Since leaving the Senate in 2004, Daschle has been a highly paid adviser to healthcare clients at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. Seems Senator Obama--oops, I meant Emperor Obama--forgot his lobbyist pledge already, merely 2 weeks after being annointed.

It's nice that president-elect Obama can tout his washed hands off the lobbyists. He likely will have some payback to the Unions who have helped elect him. That's why he's supporting a rescue plan for the automakers? Perhaps he can argue that it's only fair, if companies like AIG gets help, when why not GM? Not a good reason in my book just because we'd have to follow a wrong precedent. True capitalism dictates tht business should be allowed to profit as well as fail. Don't argue that too many people are impacted. Well.... who caused GM to be in such a predicament? Doesn't the union have something to do with it (high fringe benefits, etc.)? I'm not anti-Union, to note.

Good government types are heralding these steps (by President-elect Obama) -- since they are unprecedented.

"The ethical guidelines released today for the Obama transition are tough and unequivocal."
Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution

"This ethics policy is a statement about the tone and tenor of the Obama administration. It is a good sign."
Norm Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute

Mara, I did not say that someone DID come up with a million disposable credit cards, I said they COULD do so. That is an important distinction. It was an example to make a point. There could have been wholesale fraud in the Obama campaign financing system, or minor fraud, or anything in between. There were not sufficient safeguards and they refused to offer any more information about their contributors that what they were required to by the letter of the law, even as others were more transparent and even though they had pledged to be transparent as well.

I have a life, thanks. And being concerned for the long-term integrity of the election process is, in my view, not an unreasonable interest for me or any other citizen. I support campaign finance reform and yes, I was extremely disappointed when Obama did not take public financing as he had promised. Now that he has been successful after having spent record amounts of money and outspending his rival by major multiples, the precedent has been set. Are you really comfortable that every future candidate who might try a similar swamp-the-opposition-with-cash strategy? Are you not interested in having the mistakes, as well as the successes, of the Obama financing studied so that we can learn what what works, what does not, and what we need to be cautious about in the future? Are you not interested in seeing where problems arise and in working to eliminate those problems? I would have thought that ensuring fair and free elections would be a nonpartisan issue.

The sad part isn't so much that Obama has made his anti-lobbyist stance less absolute, but that he has *had* to do so. If an Obama administration (or, apparently, any Presidential administration) were to actually eliminate from consideration _anyone_ who had _any_ ties to lobbying, the pool of potential employees would be reduced to neophytes. In Washington, it seems "experience" = "lobbying" of some kind. So this is what you get, I guess. The most stringent ethics requirement for a transition team on record, and one that still has to account for this political reality.

I'm sure Joe the Plumber disapproves. Or at least he's paid to say so on behalf of the "the's" lobby.

WOW!!! Obama is a politician!! WOW!!! I am so shocked! Jake Tapper is shocked that Obama makes incomplete, vague statements!!! Jake Tapper is shocked that Obama is a politician!

We live in a world of ideas and a world of imperfect language to express those ideas. Add to that the fact that the world is not static and you've got yourself a world a bit more complex than a few cherry picked statements. Indeed, even those statements can be reconciled, so long as you don't approach or understand language like a five year old.

etothex: ""He's not doing the exact opposite of what he said. He's doing exactly what he said."
Obama truth denial syndrome."

See, someone who's just denying something regardless of the truth tends to skip the bit where they provide quotes and reasoning, and just come out with some glib response. You know, just like you did.

I think those who are commenting negatively haven't actually read Jake's article.
The change in the policy on the lobbyist issue is a very positive statement from the Obama camp. It is in keeping with his promise to not have lobbyists in his administration.
In many positions requiring that field's expertise, many of the top people might have at one time done some work lobbying. Take the subject of oil exploration. Many terrific experts have worked for national wildlife protection firms trying to keep drilling out of national parks. Should they be disqualified from ever serving Obama's administration? No, thus the time limits imposed with this new rule.
It is common sense that experts in most fields might have been hired at one time or another by either side of an issue. This rule will keep recently active and current lobbyists out of Obama's adminstration.

"He's not doing the exact opposite of what he said. He's doing exactly what he said."

Obama truth denial syndrome.

Concerned in OH: "It's amazing how one man can say one thing with such a straight face, do the exact opposite, and be lauded from the press for being so principled."

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, it's you that's in the wrong and not the press? You've been wrong so much I'd have thought you might have started to realize that by now.

Take this. Let's look at what Obama said shall we?

"I don't take a dime of their money"

And now he's saying:

"Federal Lobbyists cannot contribute financially to the transition."

That's not the exact opposite. That's exactly the same.

And then we have:

"they won't find a job in my White House."

Now he's saying:

"Federal lobbyists are prohibited from any lobbying during their work with the transition."

Leaving aside that he's not in the White House yet, what do you think a lobbyist is? It's someone who lobbies. A lobbyist who's not lobbying isn't a lobbyist.

On top of that, you have the additional rules that, if someone was a lobbyist before working on the transition, they can't work on the field in which they were lobbying, and if they become a lobbyist after working on the transition, they can't lobby the administration in that field.

He's not doing the exact opposite of what he said. He's doing exactly what he said.

You seem to think he said he wouldn't hire anyone who's ever been a lobbyist, ever. He didn't. Can you not grasp the simple concept that someone who is no longer lobbying is no longer a lobbyist?

Good government types are heralding these steps (by President-elect Obama) -- since they are unprecedented.

"The ethical guidelines released today for the Obama transition are tough and unequivocal."
Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution

"This ethics policy is a statement about the tone and tenor of the Obama administration. It is a good sign."
Norm Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute

GetReal: A million disposable credit cards? When pigs fly..... GetReal? It's time to get a life.

GetReal: What Jake was saying is pretty much what he has been saying for months, and it can be said in far fewer words: "I don't get enough attention and I don't like Obama. So I will write a snarky column," What is truely amazing is that Disney boys are either so biased or so dim that they made this prep boy the White House Correspondent - even after he called the President-Elect of the United States an S O B, for no apparent reason, on national television. I don't know if that says more about the prep boy, or the Disney boys, or both.

Of course Obama owes George Soros, MoveOn.org, the media and everybody and their brother favors. Obama is the biggest hypocrite in politics. In the primaries, Obama ran as the most extreme liberal democrat, then in the general moved to the center. I don't trust him, and never will.

I will alway pray for the preservation of our great nation, and our Christian faith worldwide, but never for Obama, because I don't believe he and his cronies have good intentions for our great nation and the world.

What about the Special interest Groups!!

America has for the first time in History elected the most Partisan Left Wing President who will bring us to Socialism

In an interview with Brian Williams, when Obama was asked that since the campaign was so grueling and grinding process, and to make it this far, he must have wanted very badly, so what is it about Presidency that Obama wants so badly as a young man?

And Obama answered -- because he wants to see a government that reflects the decency of the American people.

Our Smartest Greatest Leader knows how to achieve his noble goals for the common good of the society. You Republicans and Democrats sore losers are just so bitter to worry only about the simple small details. Look at the greater picture; we are heading to the great ideals - from each according to his ability and to each according to his need.

It's amazing how one man can say one thing with such a straight face, do the exact opposite, and be lauded from the press for being so principled.

jhw, yep, both read and understood every word. Jake was showing how Obama's position on lobbyists has evolved over time. Yes, there were two quotes from Obama the candidate-- one saying in no uncertain terms there would be no lobbyists in his administration, then one saying something slightly, but crucially, different. As Jake points out with his headers, the second one appears to repeat the first, but there is nuance afoot. The second statement says they won't run things, not that they won't be employed at all. The important third statement is not from Obama but from his transition team. Are you going to argue they do not reflect his views when they announce the guidelines? These guidelines are in line with previously stated suggestions of what the guidelines for employment in the new administration, as opposed to the transition team, will be. It was previously posted on the Obama website that the rules are expected to be that lobbyists would not be allowed to lobby the administration for two years after they leave a position in it. The final rules have not been announced, but I expect they will be similar to these guidelines for the transition, but probably a tad looser.

I am not saying it is not a step in the right direction, if you really are interested in keeping lobbyists and their influence out of government. I personally do not get really worked up about it, because there are lobbyists and then there are lobbyists. It is not a simple issue and there are plenty of people who could be labeled "lobbyists" who would not trouble me in the slightest if they were a part of the Obama (or any other) administration.
I am not saying Obama is going back on his initial pledge, only that he is changing it to reflect the realities on the ground. That is what politicians do-- it's not good or bad, necessarily, it's just politics. My argument was not that he was a slimeball liar-- it was that he was a typical politician. I am not the one who thinks this is the end of the world. I just think people should have a more realistic understanding of what is going on. Let's not keep the man on a pedestal. That does not mean I think he deserves to be kicked to the curb. But get real.

GetReal: "Liz has a point, people. The Obama campaign took money under incredibly lax security. We don't know who gave how much for real. We don't know how many people took advantage of the system. It is possible, for example, that George Soros or Oprah Winfrey or Joe Shmoo could have arranged for the purchase of a million dollars worth of disposable credit cards and had people use those cards to contribute to the campaign, thus avoiding the campaign finance laws. Did that happen? I don't know and neither do you. And since no one is going to audit the campaign or, apparently, investigate the abuse, no one will ever know."

As your first post proves, you're just throwing out random slander. The EXACT same concern can be leveled at John McCain and his hundreds of millions of dollars raised. Obama obeyed all laws to the letter, and went above and beyond by returning (quietly, without fanfare) many donations from supporters who showed up on the list of registered lobbyists.

Your fantasy about Soros buying a million disposable credit cards is laughable. Beyond the logistical infeasibility of this, Republicans have clearly proven the easy way to wash money is to have the wives of all the janitors at a supporter's company give a legal $2,300 to the candidate. (Several such odd clusters of folks actually do appear on John McCain's list of donors.)