I’ve never been a fan of holding up lobbyists as some inherently evil group. I think running against them is mostly a stunt, and I think broad prohibitions against them entering government is a bad idea. That said, if you’re going to make a point of adopting rules against lobbyists, you really should stick to them.
Update: While I’m not a fan of the rhetorical device of slamming lobbyists, I’m absolutely appalled by the revolving door. As such, I’m completely okay with fairly severe post-employment bans on lobbying agencies of which you were previously a part. Not a perfect solution, but it’s better than nothing. (Thought I’d made this part of my original post, but somehow bungled it.)
James Young
Agreed. But where were your criticisms of Barry when he was pulling his “stunt”?
MB
Barry? You knew the guy in Hawaii? Went to Harvard with him? No?
Beth
Ugh. See, I am with you on the hypocrisy. But the problem is that I read Campbell Brown’s take it on it before I read yours, so now I want to defend Obama even though I can’t think of a particularly good defense. Because that is the power of Campbell Brown: she can make me believe anything, as long as it is the opposite of whatever she’s saying.
MB
Which brings up a more important question – why in the world were you reading Campbell Brown?
Beth
Oh, you know, they put those links on cnn.com, it’s late, you’re drunk, next thing you know you are reading Campbell Brown.
MB
Ah. That makes sense. (I should admit, however, that that’s how I thought those columns were written, not read.)