Obama Outlines His Reform Agenda
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, VideoAnd there’s a lot of detail.
Don’t believe me? Well, in the first 4 minutes he talks about the following…
No lobbyists in the White House
People who work in an Obama administration won’t be able to work on outside lobbying projects, and will not be able to work for a lobbying firm for 2 years. Also, anybody who leaves the administration for a lobbying job will not be able to lobby the administration.
Absolute gift ban for staffers
Nothing, nada, zilch from lobbyists. It’s all gone. This is basically an extension of the ethics reform Obama passed a couple years ago with Russ Feingold.
Legislation is open and transparent
Meetings where laws are written will be open. No more secrecy. This will be a tough one, but my guess is that ultimately he’ll get his way because most Americans don’t have time to pay attention and they’ll leave it up to the hard core political junkies to sift through.
The 5 day rule
Before Obama signs anything, he’ll make that bill available online for 5 days so everybody can see what the bill contains. And important details will apparently be highlighted in some fashion so people know where the money is going if it’s a tax bill, pork barrel project, etc.
In any event, watch the whole thing and tell me what you think.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
Here’s the thing I like best about Obama: His campaign promises? They’re actually possible to keep. I would be surprised if he didn’t follow through on most of these.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
Which special interest groups count as lobbyists? Can an ex-Obama staffer go work for the ACLU or NAACP? How are these being defined?
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Hmmm…it seems most of this would be better done from an office in the Legislative branch, not the Executive. If Obama attempted to impose these measure from the OVal Office there are extreme seperation of powers issues.
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
@Rich- Well, that certainly didn’t stop Bush.
Like Bush, Obama will just do it with signing statements, only his will be for more transparency, not less.
@kranky kritter - Oh, I’m sure those organizations have lobbyist working for them, but they’re not a lobbying firm, per se. I think that’s the distinction here. No staffers can become lobbyists themselves, or, when the two years is up, can they lobby the White House.
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Hmmm, if its a pledge just on “signing statements” thats one thing, it sure sounds like something more than that.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:13 pm
This isn’t exactly relevant, but as close and recent a post as I can find…but let’s get some discussion on Dodd’s proposal going. Anyone on Donklephant care to blog about it?