President Barack Obama’s got a whole new take on corporate cash.
The inaugural committee says its decision to accept unlimited corporate money is only a reflection of how drained donors are following the pricey reelection campaign.
(Also on POLITICO: Inauguration planning kicks into gear)
But coming right in the midst of negotiations over the fiscal cliff, the decision means Obama will start his second term with a significant symbolic reversal — four years ago, the corporate money ban was supposed to signal what his committee called a “commitment to change business as usual in Washington.” It opens him to charges that he’s changed — and not for the better.
“Shocked,” wrote one Democratic lobbyist in an email about the flip-flop on corporate donations.
“Here is this guy that came to Washington and said, ‘I’m going to come and change the way Washington works. I’m going to bring a new, basically, working class to Washington,’” said a GOP fundraiser who has worked on inaugurations. “‘But now that I’m reelected, and I have nothing to worry about in the future besides possibly my library, that quote-unquote moral compass doesn’t exist.’”
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=AA85F83A-D2AC-4FDC-B584-3FD4595F1729
The inaugural committee says its decision to accept unlimited corporate money is only a reflection of how drained donors are following the pricey reelection campaign.
(Also on POLITICO: Inauguration planning kicks into gear)
But coming right in the midst of negotiations over the fiscal cliff, the decision means Obama will start his second term with a significant symbolic reversal — four years ago, the corporate money ban was supposed to signal what his committee called a “commitment to change business as usual in Washington.” It opens him to charges that he’s changed — and not for the better.
“Shocked,” wrote one Democratic lobbyist in an email about the flip-flop on corporate donations.
“Here is this guy that came to Washington and said, ‘I’m going to come and change the way Washington works. I’m going to bring a new, basically, working class to Washington,’” said a GOP fundraiser who has worked on inaugurations. “‘But now that I’m reelected, and I have nothing to worry about in the future besides possibly my library, that quote-unquote moral compass doesn’t exist.’”
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=AA85F83A-D2AC-4FDC-B584-3FD4595F1729