Obama’s five steps
Posted: Friday, June 22, 2007 4:17 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Democrats
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
Obama strayed from the stump speech today, unveiling a “five-step” plan to end what he called the emergence of a "second Gilded Age in America" in a Manchester, N.H. speech centered on government reform.His plan: A permanent “doorstop” on lobbyists; End no-bid contracts; Ban lobbyist gifts; Pick an administration not based on partisan politics; Return government to the people.
Obama set up the plan by blasting the Bush Administration for what he called Industrial Revolution-era-like big business and corruption and compared himself to Teddy Roosevelt. Speaking to an audience in the cafeteria at New Hampshire's Community Technology College, Obama received polite applause -- a reaction quite different from the usual loud cheers at his rallies and town hall meetings.
"We need a president who sees government not as a tool to enrich well-connected friends and high-priced lobbyists, but as the defender of fairness and opportunity for every American," Obama said. "That's what this country has always been about, and that's the kind of President I intend to be."
Obama attacked Bush and his Administration’s failure to implement systems for health care, energy independence, and education, saying lobbyists in these industries had a heavy hand in influencing legislation.
"Billions of no-bid, no-strings-attached contracts have been handed out in New Orleans and Iraq and at Walter Reed Medical Center on the sole basis of who you know and the favors you've done,” Obama said, “and yet we're somehow surprised when the families in the Ninth Ward are still living in trailers, or our soldiers don't have the body armor they need, or our veterans are forced to come home to squalor and neglect."
The five-step ethics reform plan, Obama said, promises to "make the White House the people's house and send the Washington lobbyists back to K Street."
Obama’s Five Steps to Government Reform
Step 1 -- A permanent “doorstop” on lobbyists.
"When you're on Dick Cheney's energy task force, and you know that a multimillion dollar job as an oil lobbyist could be waiting for you,” Obama said, “whose interests are you going to serve -- the oil companies that are asking for more tax breaks or the scientists and energy experts who say that we need to invest in renewable fuels? 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."
Step 2 -- End no-bid contracts
"When our government gives Halliburton $7 billion in taxpayer dollars to put out Iraqi oil fires that don't exist; when we hand over Katrina contracts to more of George Bush's FEMA friends, it doesn't just violate the American people's trust, it takes away the tax dollars they've earned and the valuable services they need." Obama said. "It's wrong, and when I am President, it will end. We will not have no bid contracts for vital services in this administration."
Step 3 -- Ban gifts from lobbyists
"When the American people have a concern about the high cost of health care or college tuition, they can't afford to take a White House staffer out to a fancy dinner or they can't afford an expensive sporting event, and lobbyists shouldn't get to either.'
Step 4 -- Pick an administration not based on partisan politics
He was most forceful in presenting this part. "When it comes to hiring people in my administration, the litmus test we'll apply will not be based on party or ideology, but qualification and experience," Obama said to some applause. He called the current administration the "most politicized White House in history" and pledged an Obama administration would bring an end to that.
Step 5 -- Return government to the people
"When there is a bill that ends up on my desk as President, you, the American voter, will have five days to look online and find out what it is before I sign it." Obama continued, "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 it up on the Internet for every American to watch."
