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The holes in the arguments of politicians offering to ‘clean up’ politics are many. After Barack Obama fires off another criticism of Hillary Rodham Clinton she is quoted by Associated Content, Inc calling lobbyists ‘real Americans.’ A report from AP on August 16th quotes her as saying many [lobbyists] ‘represent real people.’

It is also reported that Obama’s clean up Washington campaign promise is more of a ‘born again’ cleansing during his pursuit of the oval office. He admits taking special interest money while holding state office and playing cards with some who gave him money.

Likewise, I don’t take any lobbyist or PAC money Edwards, is suspected of having trial lawyers and other special interest funnel money to him through other conduits. The words each of the three candidates use must be listened to carefully. The cover for this double talk is so thin as to be transparent.

Obama does not think ‘lobbyists are evil’. He knows they ‘have an agenda’ and one ‘must be clear’ about that. So far he has said nothing about how he will clean up Washington. He is merely speaking about what is already known and avoiding any details about the implied end of the influence of money in politics. Because he knows it won’t happen.

He adds they are paid and would not be if they were not doing something. This is a totally useless statement. Still there is no details on how he will clean up Washington. Obama took money from state lobbyists and declares he is not a hypocrite. He denies ‘blasting’ Hillary Rodham Clinton on the issue only claiming he said she doesn’t see the problem. He further states his stand has been to declare special interest money is a problem. Well no kidding. He knows it’s a problem, has been part of the problem, realizes it conveniently in a Presidential campaign and wants to do something about it. And he says he ‘fought for these issues’ and will not take, and here is the thin cover, money from lobbyist who do business in Washington or from political action committees.

Lobbyists doing business elsewhere are free to give money to Barack. Perhaps like Edwards, Obama can arrange for lobbyist money to come thought other conduits. And Hillary admitting she takes lobbyist money that allows them to influence her is only better in that she admits it. It is still a plague in US politics. That is part of why education and health care are so expensive as well as defense, national security, transportation, government research and most other components of the economy. But you just wait because Barack Obama and John Edwards want to fix it. Sure they do.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Obama Pledges to Clean Up Washington
By RON FOURNIER and MIKE GLOVER
The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa - Democrat Barack Obama, who accepts special interest money and played poker with lobbyist pals as an Illinois lawmaker, acknowledged Thursday that he swims in “the same muddy water” that corrupts Washington, but he pledged to reform the system if elected president.

“I have a bunch of friends who were state lobbyists. The fact of the matter is … I played poker with them, so I don’t think that lobbyists are evil,” said the first-term Illinois senator. “I just think they’ve got an agenda and you got to be clear about that, and not pretend that they don’t.”

This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Public Affairs, Money Matters, wordpress, Politics, campaign, election, Democrats, Clinton, lobbyist, obama, hillary, Edwards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.