Obama's Administration Fails on Promises to Be "Most Ethical" in History

For months, starting during his campaign and continuing after his election, President Obama promised to exclude lobbyists from his administration. Many campaign promises can be parsed or watered down based on how one chooses to interpret the wording, but how can anyone claim he didn't mean this when referring to lobbyists?

"They won't work in my White House."

As CNN's Campbell Brown points out, it is in fact his White House now and lobbyists are in fact working there. The recently confirmed Attorney General Eric Holder lobbied until at least 2004. The Secretary of Agriculture nominee, Tom Vilsack, was a lobbyist until last year. The Deputy Secretary of Defense nominee, William Lynn, was a lobbyist for and executive at defense firm Raytheon. Tom Daschle, nominated to be DHS secretary, was a "consultant" for a health industry lobbying firm. This is but a small and incomplete list of the increasingly numerous exceptions to the rule. How many does it take before the administration will admit that the rule is either a joke or a lie?

The Obama administration also promised to be one of the most, if not the most ethical in history, So far this has proven to be something of a joke as well.

The new Secretary of the Treasury, who among other things oversees the Internal Revenue Service, cheated on his taxes. Mr. Geithner called his failure to pay taxes a mistake, but how do we believe that a man who ran a Federal Reserve bank and worked at the International Monetary Fund did not know basic tax rules? Attorney General Eric Holder participated in the pardoning of FALN terrorists who had been convicted of or linked to crimes including bank robbery, explosives possession, and murders. Both of these men were given a pass by the Obama adminstration and Democrats in the Senate because they were just too "unique" or possessed special talents. Recently self-withdrawn Tom Daschle was being pushed to head Health and Human Services despite his tax "mistakes" and his very recent past working for a health care industry lobbying firm.

How can President Obama claim the high ground on ethics and lobbying reform with this record so far? A man who either deliberately or incompetently skirted paying taxes is now in charge of collecting them. A man who pushed for the pardon of terrorists is now in charge of prosecuting them. A man who lobbied the Defense Department is going to be deputy secretary of that department. Even Treasury Secretary Geithner's chief of staff, Mark Patteron, was a lobbyist for Goldman Sachs....lobbying Treasury.

And where are the Democrats? The same Democrats who gave us the mantra of "Republican culture of corruption" have either been silent or apologists for President Obama's failure to follow his own rules and Obama's nominees' failure to follow the rules generally.

Sweeping promises, massive rule changes that are immediately breached, waived, or otherwise skirted, and then statements that you're not doing anything wrong by going around your own standards. This is followed by excuses for your nominees when it comes out that they broke the rules too.

This isn't "change we can believe in." This is change you can look up in any history book.

Campbell Brown, Commentary: Obama already struggling with lobbyist promises, CNN.com

Kenneth Vogel & Mike Allen, Obama finds room for lobbyists, Politico

Peter Baker, Obama's Pledge to Reform Ethics Faces an Early Test, The New York Times