Thread: EDITORIAL: Obama's lobbyists

Thursday, May 7, 2009
EDITORIAL: Obama's lobbyists

During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama declared that, "lobbyists won't find a job in my White House." Now President Obama takes a different view of lobbyists.

The Senate is expected soon to approve anti-tobacco lobbyist William Corr for the second-highest post at the Department of Health and Human Services. He is the former executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and, until recently, a registered lobbyist.

The Obama team has said Mr. Corr will recuse himself from tobacco-related matters. Sure. Mr. Corr's former group received $3.3 million over the past five years from pharmaceutical companies, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some of those firms profit from nicotine gum, patches and other smoking-cessation aids.

The Obama administration asks its appointees to sign a pledge not to work on issues for which they lobbied in the previous two years. It will be hard for Mr. Corr to abide by such restrictions as deputy secretary of HHS, which has a broad scope. The Food and Drug Administration, which is part of HHS, regulates pharmaceuticals. A bill approved by the House and awaiting Senate action would give the FDA power to regulate tobacco as a drug. Medicare and Medicaid pays for prescription drugs, a simple fact which brings the federal bureaucracy into many health care decisions.

Mr. Corr is not alone in Mr. Obama's circle of lobbyists. Thirty of 267 senior administration officials, about 11 percent of the president's top staff, had lobbied within the past five years, according to National Journal. The list includes Mothers Against Drunk Driving CEO Chuck Hurley to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn, who lobbied for defense industry giant Raytheon; and Treasury chief of staff Mark Patterson, who represented Goldman Sachs' interests.

At the White House, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Director Cecilia Munoz lobbied for the National Council of La Raza; Office of Political Affairs Director Patricia Gaspard is a former Service Employees International Union lobbyist; and Deputy National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon is a former lobbyist for Fannie Mae.

At the White House, Office of Intergovernmetnal Affairs Director Cecilia Munoz lobbied for the National Council of La Raza; Office of Political Affairs Director Patricia Gaspard is a former Service Employees International Union lobbyist; and Deputy National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon is a former lobbyist for Fannie Mae.

In principle, there is nothing wrong with former lobbyists serving the president. Their expertise can be useful in developing effective public policy, and the president should be free to pick his team.

Still, we wonder what happened in the past few short months to dramatically improve Mr. Obama's view of lobbbyists.

http://washingtontimes.com

What a surprise that this comes from The Washington Times! The MSM has been up Obama's butt for so long that I didn't know they were offering opposing viewpoints! Actually, I was surprised the other day when I read an anti-Obama article on Huffington Post of all places.

So far as an un-officiated party member, I have noticed more dissent from demos and Obama than I did with repubs and Bush. I don't know what that means yet, except from what I hear from Limbaugh etc. I get into arguments all the time from demos about Limbaugh. I can't stand Limbaugh, but at least he opposed republican views when Bush did bad things. Although I would like to know where the repubs were when Bush was doing the same thing that Obama is doing, we need to come together to fight a common cause.

I am hoping that the people that troll Alipac for pro-immigration purposes see my postings, so they know that I sit in the middle. I support most of their causes, but illegal immigration is just something that I REFUSE to adhere to. THEY are wrong in this case. The more people we have that are in the middle, the more support we can get.

It's kinda hard to be taken seriously when the thread for Obama's citizenship has MORE pages of responses than the threads of the purpose of our website. It makes us look like we are MORE concerned with our president's citizenship than illegal immigration. Considering that even if proof of Obama's citizenship were given, most would still say that it was a Photoshop job, and it wasn't real. That makes us MORE crazy than the libs on the far left. I personally believe that Obama IS a citizen, but since I can't stand Obama than I am all for trying to prove his citizenship, ONLY because of the fact that it would get him impeached. I don't believe it, but more power to you if you can prove it. Again, even IF it is proved, nobody would believe it, ONLY because of party affiliation.

How much support from the middle do you guys expect when a lot of the time we sound like just an extension of FOX news? Whether you like it or not, FOX news is an extension of failed republican policies, despite their claims of "fair and balanced." They pander to the right, just as other networks pander to the left. It just sucks that FOX is the ONLY news network that takes illegal immigration seriously. The ONLY person on FOX that I believe has 0% bias is Lou Dobbs. He is my favorite. He stands for what is right and wrong.

I personally think it is time for Alipacer's to NOT adopt a republican or democrat way of thinking, but instead do what is right. We will get more support that way. I can't tell you guys how much support our cause has gotten ONLY through my explanations of facts, while at the same time supporting human rights. The BIGGEST thing my opponents have is human rights, which according to my spirituality is true. However, we live in THIS reality, which has laws. I can't allow our sovereignty be compromised at the expense of the American people, especially when Americans are expected to be held accountable, when illegals aren't. My liberal friends can't deny it, and they know they are wrong.

At this point in history, especially with a president that wants to give amnesty to law breakers, we can't afford to let religious/political differences get in the way. That is how we will fail. We MUST adopt a middle ground. If their argument is xenophobia, then lets prove them wrong.

Lets look at this website from their point of view. They see an anti illegal immigration website full of facts and knowledge, but according to what I alone see, we are MORE concerned with Obama's citizenship than illegal-immigration. We're up to what, 38 pages on "Obama's Citizenship Questioned", while an illegal immigration story that even makes MSM gets barely 2 pages worth of comments. That shows the opposition where our priorities are. It is EASY to misconstrue our cause as racist, because we seemed to be MORE concerned with a black president than illegal immigration. Again, I have to side with the libs when I say where were you the past 8 years? Why all of a sudden do you seem to care? Do you see why our cause could be misconstrued as racist?

I just want to be taken seriously, as someone that SUPPORTS gay marriage, SUPPORTS the legalization of marijuana. I support their causes EXCEPT illegal immigration. I don't want to be grouped together with people that are more concerned with a certain political affiliation, so much so that they ignore their own parties wrong doings while damning the other. It's ridiculous.