In case you weren't paying attention, since yesterday there's been a very public war of words between the Senate's two most hyped members, Barack Obama and John McCain, over lobbying reform.
Rather then tell the entire backstory, which you can read here and here, I'll make three points.
1. McCain's lobbying reform bill is incredibly weak compared to the Democrats "Honest Leadership Act." That's why only two Senate Democrats, Joe Lieberman and Bill Nelson, have signed on.
Ari Berman
In case you weren’t paying attention, since yesterday there’s been a very public war of words between the Senate’s two most hyped members, Barack Obama and John McCain, over lobbying reform.
Rather then tell the entire backstory, which you can read here and here, I’ll make three points.
1. McCain’s lobbying reform bill is incredibly weak compared to the Democrats "Honest Leadership Act." That’s why only two Senate Democrats, Joe Lieberman and Bill Nelson, have signed on.
2. As Josh Marshall noted today, it was McCain who assured anxious Republicans that his Indian Affairs Committee investigation of Jack Abramoff wouldn’t touch any prominent elected officials in his own party, including Tom DeLay.
3. McCain’s a political opportunist. He only became a "reformer" after he was implicated in the Senate’s Keating Five scandal. And as my profile of him last November made clear, there’s no greater opportunity than the Presidency in ’08. Which helps explain why he’s acting like such an ass.
Ari BermanTwitterAri Berman is a former senior contributing writer for The Nation.