[tomder55]

Flashback to President Obama's opening salvo in the 2008 campaign
The "cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play."....
"They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we're here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It's time to turn the page. "
Barack Obama Speech - Obama Speech on Day He Declared His Run For President

That was then... this is now :

The NY Slimes have put in their journalist caps to expose the pay for play ;or as former Rep (Dem RI) Patrick Kennedy says ;the quid pro quo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/us...ted=all?src=tp

Most donors, including Dr. Mohlenbrock and Mr. Kiani, declined to talk about their motivations for giving. But Patrick J. Kennedy, the former representative from Rhode Island, who donated $35,800 to an Obama re-election fund last fall while seeking administration support for a nonprofit venture, said contributions were simply a part of “how this business works.”

“If you want to call it ‘quid pro quo,’ fine,” he said. “At the end of the day, I want to make sure I do my part.”
Mr. Kennedy visited the White House several times to win support for One Mind for Research, his initiative to help develop new treatments for brain disorders. While his family name and connections are clearly influential, he said, he knows White House officials are busy. And as a former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he said he was keenly aware of the political realities they face.

“I know that they look at the reports,” he said, referring to records of campaign donations. “They’re my friends anyway, but it won’t hurt when I ask them for a favor if they don’t see me as a slouch.”

As you recall ;Obama secured the nomination when the Kennedy clan threw their weight behind his candidacy. I wonder if that was part of the quid pro quo ?

Kennedy is small potatoes compared to other donors ;and ,as a result ,their access was greater.

More broadly, the review showed that those who donated the most to Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party since he started running for president were far more likely to visit the White House than others. Among donors who gave $30,000 or less, about 20 percent visited the White House, according to a New York Times analysis that matched names in the visitor logs with donor records. But among those who donated $100,000 or more, the figure rises to about 75 percent. Approximately two-thirds of the president’s top fund-raisers in the 2008 campaign visited the White House at least once, some of them numerous times.

The best example of this is perhaps that of George Kaiser ;a multi-millionaire billionaire bundler for the Obama 2008 campaign. He is also known for the failed company call Solyndra.

Kaiser, an Oklahoma billionaire, was a "bundler" for Obama's 2008 campaign, raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the president, records show. He also was a frequent White House visitor in 2009 and 2010. White House officials for months have denied that Kaiser talked about Solyndra during those visits.

George Kaiser, Obama Donor, Discussed Solyndra Loan With White House, Emails Show
But the logs tell a different tale .Between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials and visitors made at least 20 trips to the White House.
Kaiser made three visits to the White House on March 12, 2009, and one on March 13.On March 20,2009 the Obots awarded Solyndra the 1st "green energy "loan despite repeated warnings about the company's instability . Solyndra went bankrupt in 2011, putting 1,000 employees out of work. It had received more than $500 million in fast-tracked federal loan guarantees under a new section of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as 'the stimulus'at the time of it's failure .

During a debate in 2008 ,President Obama said that “We’re Going To Have To Change The Culture In Washington So That Lobbyists And Special Interests Aren’t Driving The Process.”

But that was then... this is now.

[NeedKarma]

And this is different than any other president in what way?

[tomder55]

That's always the left's defense when they get caught as hypocrites. I expect the President will go on the campaign trail with similar lines of BS ,about the culture of corruption.
Back in 2008 he was the blank slate that everyone projected their desires on . Well now we see that he is just more of the same.The veneer has been stripped away .

What will he campaign on ? It isn't going to be the hopey changy stuff ;and he can't run as the reformer... that has been discredited.. he can't say 'stay the course 'when the course he has pursued is a path to failure.
I get it.. The President's campaign slogan... "It's still Bush's fault" .

[NeedKarma]

Well no, I'm just pointing out that all presidents and candidates make promises and then brush most of them aside to cater to the special interests that fund them. It's not a partisan issue. Your system is broken and caters to the rich and the corporations.

Here, look, Romney is giving people with lotsa money better access to his message. All you ned is to pony up $50K.

It's not going to change. You're not going to change it. Sorry.

[tomder55]

All I have to say about that is Engineering and Technical Services (ETS) . Worry about your own .

[paraclete]

Yes Tom that's what you guys say when you are caught with your pants down, look the other way chaps

[tomder55]

JudgeTony Fitzgerald tells me about the amoral political culture in your country that has been a continuous problem for years. . If you look at the op I am the one pointing out the corruption and it's NK that said look the other way.

[tomder55]

Well no, I'm just pointing out that all presidents and candidates make promises and then brush most of them aside to cater to the special interests that fund them. It's not a partisan issue. Your system is broken and caters to the rich and the corporations.

Here, look, Romney is giving people with lotsa money better access to his message. All you ned is to pony up $50K.

It's not going to change. You're not going to change it. Sorry.

Besides a retreat you are only making an assumption that there will be additional benefits at the expense of the public. The OP documents where specific favors of giving taxpayer money resulted from the access.

[NeedKarma]

If you look at the op I am the one pointing out the corruption and it's NK that said look the other way.

No, I didn't say that at all, I said it's endemic to all your politicians and not fixable. Please, please, stop putting words in my mouth, it's really annoying.

[tomder55]

Feel free to not reply to my posts.

[NeedKarma]

Someone has to correct misinformation. :-) I'm sorry you don't like it.

[speechlesstx]

Yes, in addition to his unprecedented transparency he certainly changed the culture in Washington.

[tomder55]

Lets see ; revelations of pay to play ; Secret Service that can't screen guests to official White House functions ;and go partying with prostitutes when they are doing advance work for a Presidential trip. GSA run like it's Animal House ;one failed domestic and economic agenda after another ; lead from behind foreign policy . He certainly has a record of achievement .

[paraclete]

Yes he has achieved a great deal, He has got you out of Iraq and may get you out of Afghanistan even if it is a retreat through Kyrgyzstan. I think you should resign yourselves to not exiting through Pakistan due to his and your lack of respect for national soveriegnty. He has stirred up a hornet's nest in Iran and NK. On the home front he has polarised the nation.

I hear we will be leaving Afghanistan early. I'm sure we owe that to that same lack of respect, one in all in

[speechlesstx]

But if he finds out there really was misconduct with his Secret Service he's going to get really angry.

[tomder55]

For the record Clete ;in Iraq he retreated in the face of victory. I don't mind an exit from Afghanistan... or what he called in 2008 "the good war" . Since he has no plan for victory there then all he does is waste NATO lives and treasure.

[paraclete]

But Tom we are winning the war, we can go home early. Think positive man. What happens when we leave well we can't control everything. There is no victory in terms of the Taliban laying down their arms, they are not going to do that. If you want to conquer Afghanistan you need a million men and be willing to conquer Pakistan too. Not going to happen. As soon as you leave Afghanistan, Iran will also quieten down

[tomder55]

as soon as you leave Afghanistan, Iran will also quieten down

They have been at war with the US since 1979 . No they won't quite down .They will try to assert hegemony in the region.

But this posting is not about the Obama record of failure in foreign affairs.. it's about the Obama corruption in the face of his rhetoric.

[speechlesstx]

Leads from behind, snatches defeat from the jaws of victory and provides cures in search of a disease. Obama is the anti-hero!

[talaniman]

You go righties, sounds good on paper so pile on while you can, but its clear that he has an edge with most of the voters who watch with amusement as you guys try to tear him down while he just keeps going, and going, right to re election.

Now that the right wing challenger has come through, and the circus is over(?), we can see how you guys intend on taking the world over.

Good Luck, you will need it, and some votes. I won't bother disputing your FACTS and let them fall on their own, and they will. I will betcha $10,000, hardey-har-har!!