Under Obama's Watch, Lobbyists Keep On Keepin' On
Remember when President Obama said he was gearing up for a fight with lobbyists and special interests in Washington? Apparently what he meant was that he was setting the stage for huge lobbying paydays. The Hill reports:
Lobbyists for healthcare, energy and financial interests had a banner year in 2009, with the average payout for each reaching as high as $177,000. Despite his push to rein in special interests, President Barack Obama sparked a boom on K Street with major new proposals on healthcare, climate change and financial policies.
At this point, news that the most-lobbyin'-fightin'-president-evah's big honkin' agenda is good business for lobbyists is about as fresh as Hammer pants; we already know that President Obama's first year in office made for K Street's biggest year ever, and that it was primarily driven by spending on the Democrats' biggest legislative goals.
What's frustrating is that this obvious connection seems so hard for so many people to grasp: Big-government agendas and big-government legislation mean big dollars for lobbyists. Fighting lobbyists (and the industries that support them) means lobbyists get paid big bucks to fight back. This is roughly as complicated as a straight line.