Back when paying taxes was patriotic, during the heady days of the presidential
campaign, then-Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden railed tirelessly against the
arrogance of rich fat cats who shirked their tax burden, the corrupting
influence of lobbyists and wasteful government spending. Pledging to bring an
end to bitter partisanship and "politics as usual," Obama mocked the "chorus of
cynics" who doubted that he could transform Washington through the sheer force
of his personal character and charisma.

Now, just two weeks after Obama became president, those doubts appear to have
been justified. Obama's nomination process has been shrouded in scandal. Three
of his nominees failed to pay their taxes, a revelation that forced two of them
— former Sen. Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer — to withdraw their nominations. A
fourth Obama nominee, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, has been implicated in a
possible pay-for-play scheme that forced him to bow out in December.

Obama's much-hyped plans for a lobbyist-free administration have met a fate
similar to that of his disgraced nominees. After issuing ethics rules barring
lobbyists from working in his administration, Obama promptly made an exception
so he could put a former top lobbyist for Raytheon Corp. in charge of running
the Pentagon's day-to-day operations.

The deputy defense secretary is not the only one with lobbyist ties. Obama also
appointed former Sen. George Mitchell as Middle East peace envoy despite
Mitchell's background as chairman of a law firm that lobbied for clients in the
Middle East, including Dubai's ruler. He nominated Daschle for the Health and
Human Services top post even though Daschle earned big bucks as a "policy
advisor" to the health care clients of a prominent lobbying firm — clients whom
he would have regulated as HHS secretary. And Obama allowed his treasury
secretary, Timothy Geithner — his third nominee with tax problems — to hire a
former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as his chief of staff.

"Politics as usual" appears to be alive and well on Capitol Hill as well as the
White House. Although Obama called for a "new era of responsibility" in his
inaugural address, the stimulus bill that he and his Democratic colleagues
support brims with irresponsible spending. Some of its most egregiously
extraneous expenditures have been publicized and scrapped, including hundreds
of millions for condoms and tax breaks for Hollywood producers, but much more
pork remains. Among the highlights are $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for
federal employees, $248 million to buy furniture at the Homeland Security
headquarters and $650 million for a digital television converter box coupon
program.

Obama wants Congress to pass the bill with bipartisan support by mid-month, but
given that the House version could not even garner one Republican vote, that
goal may be unrealistic. The more the public learns about this legislation, the
more support for it declines. A Gallup poll released Tuesday found that only 38
percent of Americans support Obama's stimulus plan as it stands now. That's
down from a slight majority that supported it last week.

A rocky first few weeks in office do not doom a president to failure. But for a
politician like Obama, who described his own primary-contest victory as "the
moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal"
and relentlessly criticized his predecessor from the start of the presidential
campaign right through Inauguration Day, expectations are understandably high.
Audacious promises and sanctimonious condemnations of "politics as usual" may
win elections, but as Obama is learning, there is a price to pay for
campaign-trail grandiosity. Governing well is tougher than talking about
governing. And humility is a virtue best cultivated before Inauguration Day.

Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, television and radio host and St.
Louis-based fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Her website is
www.colleen-campbell.com.