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Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Ethics Questions.

What problem does a president who sets the bar high for ethics have?

Why not higher lobbyists?

What about smart lobbyists?

Article

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

When a president makes campagin promises on changing the tone in Washington and makes an executive order on setting the bar high for ethics and violates those laws, it makes he or she look like typical politicians. The problems comes in with the establishment and when the president appoints people for a job and think they can do the best job, but when he or she finds out they have violated those laws too it's put them in a tough spot. That's the way things work in Washington and it's hard to break away from the culture.

Hiring lobbyists is an ethics issue. When a lobbyist takes a Senator out to lunch, isn't he or she bribing and giving him or her intentions to pass a bill. What if a lobbyist is trying to pass legislation that could hurt people or a way a system works isn't it wrong? Or if it's the right legislation that can positively affect people and a lobbyist is pushing a Senator to pass a bill and the Senator acts as if they actually brought the bill to attention are taking credit of passing it. Isn't it wrong? When their conscience and integrity didn't approve of it and believe in it.

As long as the legislation doesn't hurt people then you could higher lobbyists, but in a way which the lobbyist doesn't commit any wrongdoing. The use of smart lobbyists comes through then, but must follow ethical rules.

Anonymous said...

Any small miscue, or anything that at all resembles a miscue will be torn apart by the media and all those in the field of government. Obama has already dealt with two controversies, over potential cabinet members of his choosing. After setting a high standard for ethics and dealing with ethics violations during his campaign, Obama faces tougher critics, who watch his every move to see if he will live up to his hard stand against improper ethics. If any dirt is gathered on his new Cabinet appointments or any of his political involvments, President Obama may have his hands full.
The reason hiring lobbyists is not accepted is because lobbyists work on behalf of private companies, making larger salaries. Often times, what they are lobbying for is not something they themselves or the people would ever agree with. They are simply fighting for the cause because that is what they are being paid to do. Although it may not be able to be proven, a lobbyist holding a government office may assess situations based on the private interests of the organizations he/she has ties to.
The disadvantage about this lobbyist stereotype is that lobbyists are often times brilliant individuals who have had their share of political experience. Their knowledge may be extremely useful to an administration, but because of their lobbying history they cannot be utilized.

Anonymous said...

I agree with U. Cheema about the problems that might come in with the establishment and when the president appoints people to do the job the best they can but come to find out they violated the laws. The law is Washington's #1 priority so its a big deal when people break the law. The president doesn't make the laws, he just enforces them when Congress make the laws. All the pressure is put on the president when something goes wrong.

Lobbyists are not so good because they don't care about whats right or wrong. All they care about is getting their jobs done and done well because they get paid to do that.

Smart lobbyists are good as long as the follow the rules.

Anonymous said...

I tend to think that hiring a lobbyist is a good idea. Most lobbyists can be benefitial in many ways. They do have somewhat good expericence when it comes to any political aspect. Basically it is ethical to hire a lobbyist.

Anonymous said...

I think that when it comes to the american people it should matter what that person had or forgot to do, because a ordinary american citzen breaks some type of law. I think its funny how american people sometimes fail to pay their taxes, and think that they should get away with it. Then when a man who is selected to help the leader of our country has fail to pay his taxes. The people want to hang him on a stick, all because he has more money than you doesn't give you the right to hate him. think we as a country should give whoever thinks they they can change country a chance because we dont have the guts to do it our self. (Well I Do!)Another we should give Obama slack, I know he promise that he won't chocie the same people bush did. (Lobbyist) Then turned around and did, But come on everyone makes promises and breaks them.

Anonymous said...

Typical people in America today have broken the law in one way or another because we tend to think we can get away with it. I think the people that Obama is trying to bring in to office to represent the lower class people of America never thought that they would be recieving this much publicity and probably thought that they would continue unnoticed.

Obama wants to change America but everyone makes mistakes and I think he understands that, I was happy that he took full responsibility for the whole thing even when he has so many other problems to deal with.

Anonymous said...

The problems a president who wants to be ethical in nature deals with 10x more scrutiny. People have such high expectations for President Obama that when something scandalous appears, the media will either try to look past it or blow it up out of proportion. We can't expect President Obama to change everything sleazy about Washington. Lobbyists will always be around in Washington...bad or not.

Anonymous said...

I believe that Hiring a Lobbyist is a good chance to recover what has gone wrong in Washington. On political issues lobbyists are experienced and are benefitcal like U. Cheema had said that "basically a lobbyists is someone who bribes the senator on passing a bill". If the bribe is done for a good cause than why not.


a.pervaiz

Anonymous said...

Becoming a President of the United States has positives and negatives. The media questioning your decision and making it seem like whatever the President says is wrong, but i guess thats one of the prices you have to pay of becoming the President. Yes I know that the people President Obama has selected haven't payed their taxes, but there is a reason why President Obama picked them. I would rather have a person who knows what he's doing and gets the job done even though that person got in trouble, rather then a person less equipped for the job.

Anonymous said...

I think it is good thing and a bad thing for a president to make so many promises and standards for himself. The good part in that is that now he and his staff will always have in the back of their minds that they have to perform up to par. On the other hand if they or Mr.Obama doesn't do as he promises then they will let him know and not be afraid to inform him about it.

Anonymous said...

As the president sets high ethics, I don't think that it is such a great idea. If you set these high standards and you don't meet them, you loose trust in the public. I mean when President Obama was out and campaigning that's what he was supposed to do. Try to make things better for everyone and set achievable goals. I don't think its smart to say something you really cant do and make others believe you. Everyone expects President Obama to change the whole world and make it better. He chose to present himself this way , and I think that it might not be the best thing for him..because if he screws up once people will make chaos.

Anonymous said...

I believe that it is a good thing to make all these promises only if you ca n keep your word and actually fulfill them. If you’re promising to make all these changes make sure you can really achieve them. Hiring people that have broken the laws or have done wrong in some type of way, is his fault and its good that he takes the blame for it.



-CMartinez

Anonymous said...

A president who sets high standards has alot of different things to think about and should have alot of different ways of approaching the situation (Plan B). They have to consider whether the goals they set are actually reachable. They have to think about whether the plans that they set for the country is gonign to fall through/ fail. THey have to think about whether everyone that he works with is going to agree with his plan as well as the congress. They also have to be able to live up to any mistakes that he makes in the process of trying to fix whatever is going wrong (as sanaa said)....

Hiring lobbyist can be both a good thing as well as a bad thing. It can be extremely tricky because while we are expecting them to do their job, they may be planning to do something completely different. It takes alot of integrity as well as good standings to be a lobbyist because alot of people are counting on you to get the job done. It also takes a dedicated and very trusting President to hire lobbyist because if they screw up; everybody kind of looks to the president more than to the actual person that messed up...