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We rate Obama's "revolving door" policy for former lobbyists his biggest broken promise.
When we launched the Obameter a week ago, we said we would periodically revisit our rulings on President Obama's campaign promises to see if an item needed to be updated. We figured that occasionally we'd even have to change a Promise Kept to a Compromise or a Promise Broken because of new information. That's what we're doing today.
On his first full day in office, Obama signed an executive order that toughened rules for former lobbyists, requiring them to wait two years before serving in an agency which they lobbied. That seemed like a slam dunk on his promise, and we quickly rated it Promise Kept.
But we've already had cause to revisit the issue. The order includes a waiver clause and the Obama administration has indicated it wants to give a waiver to a lobbyist for a big defense contractor who has been nominated as deputy secretary of defense.
For now, we find the waiver clause is enough for us to move the Obameter from Promise Kept to Compromise, and we'll be watching to see if it merits additonal action later. Read our entire item on Obama's Campaign Promise No. 240 , "Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials."
Our Sources
Barack Obama Campaign Promise No. 240, " Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials ," updated Jan. 23, 2009.
