Seven years can change a man.
In any event, seven years certainly changes his rhetoric…
A little over a year after being sworn in as a first-term Senator, Barack Obama stood in front of an influential and prestigious crowd at the National Press Club building in Washington, D.C.
The topic of his speech that day struck a populist tone that would catapult him into the national spotlight within a couple years.
Unfortunately for Barack and those who believed in his promises, his was the tone a politician takes only when outside a position of power…
It’s a tone he abandoned as soon as he secured the election.
On January 26, 2006, then Sen. Obama gave a speech on ethics and lobbying reform in which he singled out a GOP committee chairman, Rep. Billy Tauzin.
When a Committee Chairman negotiates a Medicare bill at the same time he’s negotiating for a job as the drug industry’s lobbyist, it’s hardly a surprise when that industry gets taxpayer-funded giveaways in the same bill that forbids seniors from bargaining for better drug prices.
Two months before Tauzin resigned as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which regulates the pharmaceutical industry, he had played a key role in closed-door meetings to craft the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill. The bill was incredibly generous to pharmaceutical companies.
In his new position at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade group, Tauzin went on to play a critical role in 2009 negotiations that stopped Medicare cost reductions and importation of cheaper drugs from Canada.
If only Senator Obama in 2006 could have known what would happen under his own watch years later…
Services Retained, Incompetence Rewarded
It would be one thing if Obama targeted those with a direct vote on bills that come before the Senate and Congress. Maybe then he could have used a technicality to hide his hypocrisy.
But Obama didn’t stop with politicians during his time with the U.S. Senate…
He went after appointees and administration employees as well. On June 22, 2007, he had this to say in a speech called “Taking Our Government Back,” delivered in Manchester, New Hampshire:
First, we will close the revolving door that has allowed people to use their administration job as a stepping stone to further their lobbying careers…
When I am President, I will make it absolutely clear that working in an Obama Administration is not about serving your former employer, your future employer, or your bank account — it’s about serving your country, and that’s what comes first.
We already know from experience that he was lying to the American people.
His first action was hardly to close or even attempt to limit the revolving door. And it’s gone on spinning without a hiccup.
There are plenty of examples, but none is worse than Jack Lew’s appointment as the head of the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury and the shady deal that let him make over a million dollars off his appointment.
Jack Lew had cycled back and forth between the banking sector and administration jobs for years.
In his latest move, he was able to exploit a questionable clause in his contract with Citibank by leaving early.
Of course, that clause wouldn’t have applied if he went anywhere. The exception to his contract would only be triggered if he left Citigroup “as a result of [his] acceptance of a full-time high level position with the United States government or regulatory body… prior to the payment of any incentive and retention award for performance year 2008 or thereafter.”
Lew pulled in between $250,001 and $500,000 worth of accelerated restricted Citigroup stock and $1.1 million of “salary and discretionary cash comp” from his guaranteed incentive and retention award.
Clearly, Citigroup believed his services would be retained in some capacity — even if he technically didn’t work for the megabank.
The benefits of the revolving door aren’t just implied; they are now contractual obligations and massive payouts as the employee becomes the regulator.
Cashing Out On ObamaCare
With the head boss’ hypocrisy on full display seven years after making his hollow promises on the campaign trail, the revolving door is spinning faster than ever, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Industry and business executives are still profoundly confused about the new requirements in the arcane and often contradictory language in the 906-page long law.
Government experts are now generously offering their insider experience to help them through these tough times.
More than 30 former administration officials, lawmakers, and congressional staffers who worked on the health care law have moved into K Street lobbying offices since 2010.
Virtually all major companies and lobbying firms are hiring anyone with insider access and information. GlaxoSmithKline, UnitedHealth Group and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association picked up new high-profile hires, along with Delta Air Lines, UPS, BP America, and Coca-Cola.
The health care industry spent $243 million on lobbying in 2012, narrowly beating the $242 million spent by financial, insurance, and real estate companies. 12% of the revolving door lobbyists specialize in health care — more than for any other sector, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
It should come as no surprise that the ObamaCare insiders who are commanding the highest salaries come from the Department of Health and Human Services or committees with oversight power over health care.
The high costs of hiring former government employees and officials with inside information pales in comparison to what is at stake…
A massive number of very important details have yet to be determined.
That’s why people like Elizabeth Fowler are in great demand.
A key legislator of the bill, Democratic Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus repeatedly said Fowler, as his chief health policy counsel, was ObamaCare’s architect.
Politico stated at the time: “If you drew an organizational chart of major players in the Senate health care negotiations, Fowler would be the chief operating officer.”
As blogger Marcy Wheeler later discovered, the Word document file of the bill listed her as the original author. It appears she literally wrote the bill.
Before her gig writing the most contentious legislation of the last decade, Fowler was Vice President for Public Policy and External Affairs for the largest health insurance provider of the nation, WellPoint.
She has been bouncing between government offices and lobbying positions for over a decade.
The Obama Administration even put her in a position to oversee implementation of ObamaCare after it passed, and she became Special Assistant to the President for Healthcare and Economic Policy at the National Economic Council.
Johnson & Johnson just hired her as the head of global health policy in its government affairs and policy group.
Obama recently brought in a Clinton administration veteran and former lobbyist named Chris Jennings to help implementation of the law.
During a recent call with several state health care exchange directors, Jennings was seated right next to Obama.
My, oh my, how Obama’s actions have fallen so short of his campaign trail rhetoric.
The revolving door is too entrenched and spinning too fast.
Even if he was sincere seven years ago, the sad truth is he never stood a chance.
