Unreal...

PROMISES, PROMISES: No lobbyists at WH, except ...

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama promised a "clean break from business as usual" in Washington. It hasn't quite worked out that way.

From the start, he made exceptions to his no-lobbyist rule. And now, embarrassing details about Cabinet-nominee Tom Daschle's tax problems and big paychecks from special interest groups are raising new questions about the reach and sweep of the new president's promised reforms. Maybe he shouldn't have promised so much, some open-government advocates say. They're willing to cut him some slack — for now.

I'm certain that we'll be seeing the apologists come out of the woodwork any second now. It's coming... wait for it... Ah, here we go:

"Even the toughest rules require reasonable exceptions," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Yep. He's not lying. He's not waffling on his campaign promises. He's just making "reasonable exceptions." I wonder what other "reasonable exceptions" Obama will be allowed to make before the media starts accusing him of breaking campaign promises. Is there some sort of sliding scale in place, perhaps? Does two or three "reasonable exceptions" still get a pass? What, precisely, would constitute an "unreasonable exception"? Is that even possible with "The One"?

Think, for a moment, just how far they'd have let George Bush get with that one...


Here's my personal favorite, though:

Melanie Sloan, who is not shy about criticizing lobbyists or politicians as executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "I think the Obama folks' intentions were great here," she said. "But sometimes you realize you can't actually govern on just what you campaigned on."

Yep, you read that right. They're giving Obama a complete and utter free pass on blatantly lying in his campaign promises. The media - and the theoretical watchdogs thereof - have absolved him of blame by using the very same line of thinking they lambasted George Bush for (Nation-building?). And wouldn't it have been an act of responsible journalism to - you know - ask Obama about those campaign promises back when he was, oh, campaigning?

Apparently it's perfectly fine to lie through your teeth to get elected - if you're the Annointed One...


That is all.