So Much To Do

President Barack Obama's first public act in office Wednesday was to institute new limits on lobbyists in his White House and to freeze the salaries of high-paid aides, in a nod to the country's economic turmoil.

Announcing the moves while attending a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to swear in his staff, Obama said the steps "represent a clean break from business as usual."

[...]

"Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," said the new president, taking office amid startlingly bad economic times that many fear will grow worse.

  Huffington Post

Yes, that’s going to be rough on those aides – it applies to those making over $100,000 a year – now they’ll know what it’s like for the rest of us, eh?

Obama's new lobbying rules will not only ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted.

[...]

The new rules also require that anyone who leaves his administration is not allowed to try to influence former friends and colleagues for at least two years.

All very nice. And believe me when I say they’ll find a way around these new limits.

He also said that all government agencies were to try to provide as much information under the Freedom of Information Act as they could, rather than trying to find ways not to provide the information.

"For a long time now, there's been too much secrecy in this city," Obama said.

He said the orders he was issuing Wednesday will not "make government as honest and transparent as it needs to be" nor go as far as he would like.

"But these historic measures do mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country," Obama said. "And I will, I hope, do something to make government trustworthy in the eyes of the American people, in the days and weeks, months and years to come."

Well, we hope so, too. And what’s keeping him from issuing orders that would take things “as far as he would like,” I wonder.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.