A Reset: Obama's Government Reform Proposals

Barack Obama's government reform proposal unveiled today in Manchester seems designed to one-up the proposals offered recently by Hillary Clinton -- like an airline slashing its fares to bear its competitor.

In light of recent events, Obama's "different campaign" looks a lot like a traditional campaign, and this speech, coming at the end of a rough week of press, seems to be an attempt at a reset.

(Update: I am told that, no, this speech was planned for months and that I'm reading way too much into things).

Where Clinton only prohibits her cabinet from lobbying, Obama prohibits all political appointees from lobbying. He also has a pre-employment ban for political appointees -- that is, you can't lobby your former employers either.

Clinton does not have a gift ban for executive branch employees; Obama does.

Obama's proposals also have some gimmicks: he'll post all bills he plans to sign on his website 5 days before he signs them. And he'll require his cabinet to hold broadband town hall meetings. Also, he'll make use of the OMB website to catalogue tax breaks and ear mark requests.

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. When you walk into my administration, you will not be able to work on regulations or contracts directly related to your former employer for two years. And when you leave, you will not be able to lobby the Administration throughout the remainder of my term in office.

A lot of people have told me this is pretty tough, but I refuse to accept the Washington logic that you cannot find thousands of talented, patriotic Americans willing to devote a few years to their country without the promise of a lucrative lobbying job after they’re done. I know we can find them, and in my administration, we will.

When there is a bill that ends up on my desk as President, you will have five days to look online and find out what’s in it before I sign it. When there are meetings between lobbyists and a government agency, we won’t be going to the Supreme Court to keep it secret like Dick Cheney and his energy task force, we’ll be putting them up on the Internet for every American to watch. And instead of allowing lobbyists to slip big corporate tax breaks into bills during the dead of night, we will make sure every single tax break and earmark is available to every American online. This builds on the “Google for Government” law I passed in Congress, which already allows you to see every contract, every grant, every dime of federal spending online.