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Obama's swift fib

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 31, 2009

One of the first things Barack Obama did when he became president was order that no person who had worked as a lobbyist in the past two years could then work for a federal government agency he or she had previously lobbied. The executive order, issued Jan. 21, was a clear and decisive stand against "business as usual" in Washington.

So, obviously, Obama decided he needed to break this pledge roughly three seconds after he signed it.

William J. Lynn is Obama's choice to serve as deputy secretary of defense. Lynn was, as recently as Jan. 16, senior vice president of government operations and strategy for Raytheon, the defense and information systems contractor. Lynn, who worked at the Pentagon during the Clinton administration, was also a registered lobbyist. Raytheon, by the way, is the Pentagon's fifth largest contractor.

Caught in such an obvious bind Obama did what every president does: He wrote himself a get-out-of jail-free card. To be more precise, he wrote a waiver that said that this guy was cool it is just all the other lobbyists who need to stay out of the federal government.

It isn't a particularly auspicious beginning from a candidate so supposedly bent on change. Lobbyists are paid to be single-minded about affairs that involve their clients. Almost all the data they are given is meant to support their cause. Their thinking is influenced by the very act of being a lobbyist. The one thing lobbyists are paid specifically not to do is change.

And this is one of the things that Obama promised to get rid of in Washington. Obviously Obama is going to break his word once in a while. He is the president, and that is what presidents do. Go ahead, read their lips.

Seeing Obama break out of the presidential starting gate with a fib, however, is distressing.

James Hibbs is a senior at the University of Florida.

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