Obama patronage worse than thought

Presidents routinely reward big contributors with political-patronage jobs, especially in the diplomatic corps. The only reason this makes news in the Obama administration was because of Barack Obama’s oft-repeated conceit that he would bring a new kind of politics to Washington that would reject the kind of nepotism and patronage of the past.  Yesterday, the Washington Times took a look at Obama’s start and sees a lot of Same Old, Same Old where Obama promised Hope and Change:

President Obama’s campaign to bring change to the nation’s capital hasn’t kept him from continuing the Washington tradition of handing out ambassadorships to political friends and fundraisers.

An old college roommate, the head of an entertainment production company and a lawyer whose family made its money selling vacuum cleaners are among more than a dozen people who have won ambassadorships after raising a total of at least $4 million for Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign, according to public records.

The practice has been common for both political parties.

Since the Kennedy administration, presidents have given political appointees about 30 percent of the roughly 170 ambassadorships globally. While analysts say it’s too early to say how Mr. Obama’s administration will compare, government watchdog groups contend that the practice seems at odds with the president’s populist rhetoric against “special interests.”

Jim McElhatton gives a good rundown of the Obama bundlers who bought themselves positions within the Obama foreign service, but as Morgen at Verum Serum notes, that only tells part of the story.  In fact, Obama has extended patronage across the entire administration.  Half of the top bundlers already have jobs in the federal government:

Add these up and that’s 12 appointments (12!) to key diplomatic positions that were awarded directly to top Obama fundraisers. And that’s within only the first 6 months of the Administration. I expect there will be more to come, which is why I had initially held off on posting this.

But that’s not all. The tables above represent only the ambassadorship appointments. Take a look at some of the other Administration positions awarded within the ranks of the campaign bundlers …

Yes, the Chairman of the FCC. Three positions within the Attorney General’s office. A key legal advisory role within the White House itself. And the Corporation for National & Community Service has made headlines over the past month for the firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin.

By my calculation, nearly half of the top level of Obama campaign bundlers have been rewarded with some sort of role within the government.

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who knows about Chicago politics and its own patronage system.  Obama grew up, politically speaking, in a system that routinely handed out cushy sinecures to contributors.  He never once lifted a finger to reform the Daley Machine or even oppose it; instead, Obama embraced Daley and the political power Daley lent Obama.

Morgen wonders when the national media will start taking a closer look at Chicago-on-the-Potomac.  I’d be pleasantly surprised if they did, but that won’t stop us from highlighting it for as long as it takes.

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