Obama picks lobbyist as Pentagon No. 2

[cali]

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama, who deliberately distanced himself from lobbyists during his campaign and his transition, appointed a defense contractor's lobbyist Thursday to become his No. 2 official at the Defense Department. Obama acknowledged that his choice appeared to break with his self-imposed rules to keep lobbyists at arm's length.

William J. Lynn III, Obama's choice for deputy defense secretary, was senior vice president for government operations at Raytheon Co. and lobbied as recently as last June on issues including missiles, sensors and radar, advanced technology programs and intelligence funding.

Obama has vowed that no political appointees in his administration would be permitted to work on areas that "directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." His transition team said Lynn was worth the apparent exception to the spirit of Obama's anti-lobbyists policy. It said it will work with Lynn to maintain Obama's high ethics standards.

"Because Mr. Lynn came so highly recommended from experts across the political spectrum, the president-elect felt it was critical that he fill this position," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/obama_defense

[SidneyCarton]

1. Interesting, why?

[Runcible Spoon]

13. for the fat defense contracts for Raytheon?

I'm just guessing here, but I haven't got any better reasons to think this is anything beyond politics as usual. Chalk another one up for military-industrial capitalism.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Another weird pick. Is this guy going to be SecDef after Gates, then?

[Metta]

4. I'm sure he's the only one with those credentials.

Any more hypocracy and selling out coming our way? I'd bet on it.

[cali]

8. well, it's certainly not encouraging

and psst- that's hypocrisy.

[Pirate Smile]

5. Here was a little analysis of these picks:

Staffing Defense

Obama announced several appointments at the Department of Defense that make clear the White House will have a layer of staff beneath Secretary Robert Gates whose first political loyalty is to the president.

They include William Lynn at the top deputy job, he's a longtime Clinton defense official and former Kennedy staffer. Michèle Flournoy, who will be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, is a leading Democratic defense policy wonk who created and runs the Center for a New American Security, a hub of thinking about counterinsurgency.

The General Counsel will be Jeh Johnson, a New York lawyer and early Obama backer and bundler who is also a former general counsel to the Air Force.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0109/Staffing_Defense.html?showall

[countingbluecars]

7. Thanks for the additional info. n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. Worked under Clinton in 1997...

as an Under Secretary comptroller.

http://armedservices.house.gov/comdocs/testimony/106thcongress/00-03-02lynn.htm

[Maven]

9. Awesome.

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

10. Maybe we don't need another whole dungeon but just one for me

so I can say :wtf: without upsetting anyone.

[cali]

12. fiddlesticks. we can say wtf right here.

[EraOfResponsibility]

11. There was an article in HuffPo a while back that said

that it wouldn't be long before Obama eventually gave in to lobbyists. Guess that article was right.