Obama scores well for first year on ethics, say watchdog groups

[babylonsister]

Obama scores well for first year on ethics, say watchdog groups
By Kevin Bogardus - 12/27/09 08:45 AM ET


President Barack Obama scores well among ethics watchdog groups in his first year in office, though they’d still like to see more from the president.

Obama has wielded the power of the White House to craft an executive order that limited lobbyist hires in his administration, push federal agencies to share more of their data with the public and begin releasing visitor records for the executive complex on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“After the last eight years, it is refreshing to see a president, through his rhetoric and action, who understands the way that the system works is a problem. That just a great place to start with,” said Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center.

It’s no surprise Obama has taken a serious view of the issue.

As an senator, Obama championed ethics and transparency. The issue led to the signature legislative accomplishments of his short Senate career — the 2007 ethics bill and a government-spending database he helped create with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oka.).

Watchdog groups that had clashed with the Bush administration have cheered many of Obama’s moves.

more...

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/73645-obama-scores-well-for-first-year-on-ethics-say-watchdogs

[femmocrat]

1. Glad to hear he's doing something right. n/t

[grytpype]

2. He hasn't saved the world yet, so let's attack him.

I'm sick of this.

[Cha]

4. Cheap shots..the board is

full of them.

[Cha]

3. He's done more than that "right".

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot Moderator Democratic Underground

Nov 19, 2009
Professor Watson writes
Hi friends,

I am always being asked to grade Obama's presidency. In place of offering him a grade, I put together a list of his accomplishments thus far. I think you would agree that it is very impressive. His first six months have been even more active than FDRs or LBJs the two standards for such assessments. Yet, there is little media attention given to much of what he has done. Of late, the media is focusing almost exclusively on Obama's critics, without holding them responsible for the uncivil, unconstructive tone of their disagreements or without holding the previous administration responsible for getting us in such a deep hole. The misinformation and venom that now passes for political reporting and civic debate is beyond description.

As such, there is a need to set the record straight. What most impresses me is the fact that Obama has accomplished so much not from a heavy-handed or top-down approach but from a style that has institutionalized efforts to reach across the aisle, encourage vigorous debate, and utilize town halls and panels of experts in the policy-making process. Beyond the accomplishments, the process is good for democracy and our democratic processes have been battered and bruised in recent years.
Let me know if I missed anything in the list (surely I did).
Robert

Ordered all federal agencies to undertake a study and make recommendations for ways to cut spending
Ordered a review of all federal operations to identify and cut wasteful spending and practices
Instituted enforcement for equal pay for women
Beginning the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq
Families of fallen soldiers have expenses covered to be on hand when the body arrives at Dover AFB
Ended media blackout on war casualties; reporting full information
Ended media blackout on covering the return of fallen soldiers to Dover AFB; the media is now permitted to do so pending adherence to respectful rules and approval of fallen soldier's family

(snip)

by
Robert P. Watson, Ph.D.Coordinator of American Studies
Lynn University"

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-obama-has-done-right-list-of-90.html

[babylonsister]

6. Have you posted this in its own thread?

I hope you do; I'd love to bookmark it for future reference. Good stuff! :thumbsup:

[Cha]

8. I just found it yesterday

on a thread linking a dkos article. I'll post it in the BOG:)

[tandot]

5. "Watchdog groups that had clashed with the Bush administration have cheered many of Obama’s moves. "

Glad to K & R

[cornermouse]

7. A-hem.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Trevor_Potter

Trevor Potter, who heads the public interest group Campaign Legal Center, is a former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

Potter, legal counsel to The Reform Institute, served as Arizona Republican Senator John McCain's legal counsel in his 2000 "failed presidential bid." <1>

Potter "primly described by the Times as President of the Campaign Legal Center and former Chair of the Federal Election Commission, is also a lawyer in private practice who has helped his clients—many of them reformers—preserve for themselves generous opportunities for aggressive fundraising practices. He has been counsel to the Reform Institute, a 501(c)(3) helpful to Mr. McCain in soliciting soft money and paying close advisors. Carl Hulse and Anne E. Kornblutt, 'McCain Allies Seek Reform and the Money to Get It,' New York Times (March 8, 2005). His other clients have included the Republican Main Street Partnership, a complex of organizations run for the benefit of moderate Republican officeholders—including reformers John McCain and Olympia Snowe—in promoting their political worldview." <2>

[babylonsister]

10. So? What about Public Citizen, Project on Gov't Secrecy, etc.?

Cherry-picking, are you? Can't stand the thought he's being ethical? That's a shame.


Obama wins the most applause for putting senior aides in place whose primary job is better ethics and transparency in the federal government. The appointees include Norm Eisen, Obama’s Harvard Law School classmate and the administration’s ethics czar who is stationed in the White House Counsel’s office; Beth Noveck, the deputy chief technology officer who is leading the Open Government Initiative; and Vivek Kundra, the chief information officer.

“What I find most encouraging is that there is a core group of people at the White House who genuinely care about these issues,” said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at Federation of American Scientists. “There is now ‘someone to talk to’ at the White House in a way that there wasn’t before. And we are already starting to see some results from those conversations, such as the Open Government Directive, and other emerging policies.”

Eisen was the author of the tough executive order, signed by Obama on his first full day in office, designed to slow the revolving door between government and K Street. That order also bans ex-Obama administration officials from lobbying their former colleagues.

“The greatest surprise is just how extensively these revolving door restrictions apply,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. “Obama has ushered in the first-ever policy addressing ‘reverse’ revolving door abuses: screening potential nominees to the federal government and managing conflicts of interest among appointees so as to prevent special interests from ‘capturing’ the agencies that regulate them.”

[Name removed]

11. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cornermouse]

12. Do you prefer the fact that J. Gerald Hebert opposed Obama's

FEC nomination, Sullivan? :rofl:

[babylonsister]

13. I have no clue what you're talking about, but thanks for the kicks!

And you still are dissing the Democratic President's ethics. That's puzzling to me. I'd think you'd be happy he's ethical. But you are showing your true colors. :thumbsup:

[cornermouse]

14. Thank you for the bedtime laugh.

:rofl: Might want to do a little research next time before posting.

[babylonsister]

15. And you're not owning up to your agenda, which is more transparent than

even the President's! :rofl:

[cornermouse]

16. Actually. I don't have an agenda.

I leave that up to you, Cha, and the others.

[babylonsister]

18. My agenda is to support the Democratic president, on a political

website called Democratic Underground. Imagine that.

And I do so happily, warts and all, after the past 8 years.

[cornermouse]

19. Maybe we should just call it Obama Underground then?

[babylonsister]

20. Oooh, that was clever. This is GD/"P". What else should we be

discussing here?

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bigwillq]

9. K and R (nt)

[goclark]

17. Thanks for the post K and R