President Obama and his crew have finally stopped pretending.

For eight years, Obama and his inner circles pretended to be the scourge of lobbyists. Obama touted a loophole-filled ban on lobbyist cash and an illusionary ban on lobbyist hiring, while striking a disingenuous populist pose. Meanwhile, his corporate lobbyist friends still got jobs from him, still cut him big checks, and still shaped his policies, all from behind thin veils of legalism, misdirection or even law-skirting.