Why Do the Lobbyists Love Obama?
By Larry Johnson on September 24, 2008 at 2:54 PM in Current Affairs
I find it strange that the mythology of Barack Obama includes the meme that he eschews that nasty lobbyist money and is a man above politics. But if you look at the facts of who is giving him money a disturbing picture emerges–he is loved by lobbyists. Don’t take my word for it, do the research yourself. It is easy.
Let’s start with the top ten Lobbying firms in Washington. You can find them here. They are:
Patton Bogg
Cassidy & Associates
Akin Gump
Van Scoyoc
Williams and Jensen
Hogan & Hartson
Ernst & Young
Barbour, Griffith and Rogers
Quinn Gillepsie & Associates
PMA Group
The data covers activity since 1990. John McCain has been in the Senate for the last 18 years and he received a total of $221,754 from these firms and their employees. That works out to an average of $12,319.67 per year. Barack Obama has only been around for four years but he has already received more money than John McCain–$259,022.00.
That works out to a tidy sum of $64,755.50. Why is Barack Obama, the supposed bane of the lobbyists, getting five times as much money per year as John McCain?
We can look at this another way. Open Secrets also lists lobbying firms by the “Heavy Hitters.” Open Secrets lists the top 100 firms who have given money to politicians since 1989. So we have 19 years of data. Here are the top ten firms:
Top 10 Donors:
American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $39,632,103 AT&T Inc $39,502,961 National Assn of Realtors $32,879,706 Goldman Sachs $29,322,212 American Assn for Justice $29,160,889 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $28,480,884 National Education Assn $28,153,159 Laborers Union $26,708,339 Service Employees International Union $26,562,163 Carpenters & Joiners Union $25,745,082
Here’s the screenshot of the top twenty money givers.
Let’s focus on the most recent election cycle–2007 thru 31 July 2008–and compare what Barack Obama has received with what John McCain, the alleged Washington insider, has collected.
| Donor | Barack Obama | John McCain |
| AT&T | $123,256.00 | $168,613.00 |
| Goldman Sachs | $632,330.00 | $198,045.00 |
| National Education Assoc | $20,980.00 | $0.00 |
| SEIU | $22,300.00 | $0.00 |
| American Medical Assn | $6,350.00 | $0.00 |
| Citigroup | $389,949.00 | $259,701.00 |
| TOTAL | $1,195,165.00 | $626,359.00 |
Got that? Mr. Obama, the man who claims he does not take money from lobbyists took almost twice as much money from the top 15 lobbying firms (the real big dogs of Washington) than John McCain. Who stinketh the most?
When you run your campaign as the self-righteous savior of “new politics” and savage anyone who takes “lobbyist” money then why in the hell are you one of the top recipients. Particularly telling with the collapse of Wall Street is the $632,330.00 Obama pocketed from Goldman Sachs.
Maybe McCain is not ready to be President. His campaign seems incapable of making this very simple, very basic argument to expose the hypocrisy of Obama. But if Obama is elected do not kid yourself that he is something “new.” His audacity is that he has convinced most Americans he is not doing what he is doing. He is bought and paid for by the top lobbyists. Don’t kid yourself.
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