Is Obama’s chief political confidant David Axelrod lying about Obama and the revolving door, or is he really that ignorant?
I really try to avoid accusing people of lying, because one precondition of a lie is that the speaker knows what he is saying to be false. We simply can’t know what another person’s state of mind is. Often, comments come across as lies that are really misperceptions or ambiguous statements.
But what Axelrod said about the revolving door on CNN yesterday (highlighted in this Charlie Spiering blog post headlined “Tim Carney’s Head Just Exploded”) is not just demonstrably false, but it’s hard to imagine an intelligent human being in Obama’s inner circle not grasping how truly false and misleading it is.
Before I go any further, I need to apologize. Some of my readers have critiqued me for arguing with stupid over-generalizations by liberals. It looks like I’m fighting strawmen, even if they’re real. Axelrod’s statements would undoubtedly fit into the category of “too dumb to respond to” if he weren’t kind of the guy who gets on Sunday morning television, gets quoted in the New York Times, and tells the President how to run for reelection.
So here goes taking apart Axelrod’s claims:
“The President has imposed on himself a ban on taking contributions from lobbyists.” No the President has not done this. He still takes contributions from lobbyists. He still has lobbyists raising money for him.
A few examples:
Lawrence Rasky and Joseph Baerlein, Chairman and President of the lobbying firm Rasky Baerlein, are Obama donors. Google public affairs manager Ginny Hunt and Blue Shield public policy VP Tom Epstein are Obama donors. Obama donors Mark Boatwright, James O’Neill and Soyla Fernandez list themselves on Obama’s FEC filings as “lobbyists.” There are plenty more. What Obama has done is tried to exclude registered federal lobbyists from donating. Of course, lobbyist registration is basically unenforced on the federal level, so that’s a cosmetic rule.
“The president has ended the revolving door between industry and government….” No, he hasn’t, and Axelrod knows this. Does Axelrod wonder where White House budget chief Peter Orszag has gone? Does he have to ask around to get the whereabouts of former White House counsel Greg Craig? Is he the only person in political Washington who doesn’t know that these White House alumni went to work for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, respectively?
Does Axelrod really not know about bailout captain Jim Millstein who has cashed out to start his own bank-consulting firm? What about Oscar Ramirez repping Bank of America at the Podesta Group and Grant Leslie at the Glover Park Group? It would be downright rude if Axelrod wasn’t keeping in touch with Obama’s deputy chief of staff, Mona Sutphen, who’s now working for a Swiss Bank. I could go on and on and on, but you get the point.
“He doesn’t, uh, hire lobbyists.” The most accurate description for this Axelrod statement — a colloquial term for the manure of a male cow — is not fit for a family-friendly blog.
At least 50 former lobbyists have taken senior positions in the Obama administration. This includes multiple cabinet secretaries. The former lobbyist for the Swiss Bankers Association is Obama’s general counsel at the IRS. A former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs is Obama’s Treasury Department Chief of Staff.
I think Axelrod knows everything I’ve blogged above. That’s why it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that David Axelrod is lying.
