Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Trouble with Promises

When Barack Obama was a candidate for the office of President, he promised to do things differently if he was elected to the high office. He pledged that no longer would the special interests have a major impact on the development of public policy. To that end there would be no lobbyists placed in high positions in his administration. Well, here we are with Obama as President and guess what: he has broken that promise already.

First was his choice of William Lynn for a high position in the Defense Department. And then more recently came the nomination of former Senator Tom Daschle to a cabinet post. Both men have worked at the behest of special interest lobbies in Washington. Now, I don’t doubt that both men are eminently qualified for the positions to which they have been nominated. In fact they are possibly the best in the nation for the jobs they have been assigned. However, a promise is a promise and it’s unfortunate that it has to be broken so quickly in this new administration.

And that is the trouble with promises. They are very difficult to keep. Once made they limit the decision-making ability of the one who makes them. So, I guess the moral of the story is, be careful about what you promise. Hopefully our new young President has learned that lesson.

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