What a Difference 6 Months Makes.

Sept 2008:
"The truth is, our earmark system in Washington is fraught with abuse. It badly needs reform - which is why I didn't request a single earmark last year, why I've released all my previous requests for the public to see, and why I've pledged to slash earmarks by more than half when I am President...This change will not be easy. It will require reforming our politics by taking power away from the lobbyists who kill good ideas and good plans with secret meetings and campaign checks...But I am ready to reform our politics because I've done it before. I've spent my career taking on lobbyists and their money, and I've won...When I am President, I will start by closing the revolving door in the White House that has allowed people to use their Administration job as a stepping stone to further their lobbying careers...As President, I will make it impossible for Congressmen or lobbyists to slip pork-barrel projects or corporate welfare into laws when no one is looking because when I am president, meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public. No more secrecy...We can't afford four more years of that kind of politics. We need real change. It won't be easy. The kind of change we're looking for never is. What we are up against is a very powerful, entrenched status quo in Washington who will say anything and do anything and fight with everything they've got to keep things just the way are. So if you want the next four years in Washington to look just like the last eight, then I am not your candidate. But if you want real change - if you want to shine a bright light into the backrooms of Washington; if you want to replace the special interests with your interests, if you want a government that costs less and works better for everyday Americans, then I ask you to knock on some doors, and make some calls, and talk to your neighbors, and give me your vote on November 4th. And if you do, I promise you - we will change America together. Thank you."
Senator Barack Obama, September 2008 (washingtonpost.com)

March, 2009:
"I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill (over 9,200 earmarks amounting to an estimated 13 billion dollars) because it is necessary for the ongoing functions of government...But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change. The future demands that we operate in a different way than we have in the past...So let there be no doubt: this piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability...Done right, earmarks give legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their district, and that's why I have opposed their outright elimination..."

Worthy projects?
$200,000 for Tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, CA
$75,000 for the Wayne Gomes Youth Baseball Diversity Foundation
$300,000 for a World Trade Center in Montana
$6,623,000 for Formosan Subterranean Termite Research
$71,000 for Dance Theater "Etcetera," Brooklyn, NY
$476,000 for the National Council of La Raza ("the Race") in Washington, DC (La Raza is a Mexican supremacist organization that opposes enforcement of immigration law)

President Obama said, "Leadership requires setting an example..." He signed the bill in a private "backroom" of the Whitehouse and refused to answer any questions about why, but promised this bill would be the last one with too much pork...
See his press announcement here.

In other news...
President Obama appoints two more lobbyists to his administration.
Apparently when he said, "taking on lobbyists" he didn't mean opposing them, he meant hiring them.

"Change we need!"