Better to Have Promised and Broken, or Never to Have Promised at All?
Alas, it was a bit too good to be true, since at the behest of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, President Obama is giving incoming Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn a pass on these tight restrictions. They will remain tight, all right — for everyone else — but not for Lynn, who was a lobbyist for Raytheon and will remain involved in decisions involving his former employer. Not a total waiver, but indeed a partial one.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), hardly staying out of the news these days, expressed his disappointment with the exception, saying, “While I applaud the president’s action to implement new, more stringent ethical rules, I had hoped he would not find it necessary to waive them so soon.”
I am not making the case against Lynn, and perhaps Gates is correct that Lynn is the best man for the job. But I am questioning promises — it is better to make bold ones and be forced to make exceptions? Or better not to make them at all?
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