Obama Transition's Rules for Lobbyists

Here they are:

• Federal Lobbyists cannot contribute financially to the transition.
• Federal lobbyists are prohibited from any lobbying during their work with the transition.
• If someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied.
• If someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the Transition, they are prohibited from lobbying the Administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked.
• A gift ban that is aggressive in reducing the influence of special interests.

This strikes me as about as aggressive a president or president-elect could be when it comes to steering clear of lobbyists. Unfortunately, you can't simply get rid of them. Washington would cease to function. Personally, I'm comfortable with these guidelines. I think Obama is sincere about not wanting to be beholden to lobbyists and special interests. Of course, we'll see what happens come January 20th.

(For that list, hat tip to Marc Ambinder.)