How To Get Filthy Rich in Obamaworld
http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-get-filthy-rich-obamaworld
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Norm Scheiber, in a must-read article in The New Republic, Get Rich or Deny Trying:
How to make millions off Obama, chronicles how this process works. Its even uglier than you might imagine.
In theory, there are some bounds of propriety:
Within Obamaworld, there are a few unwritten rules about how to parlay ones experience into a handsome payday. There is, for example, a loose taboo against joining a K Street lobbying shop and explicitly trading on administration connections. And while joining a consulting firm is acceptable, those who do are reluctant to work for clients reviled by liberals: gun makers, tobacco companies, Big Oil, union busters. Above all, there is a simple prohibition against excessive tackiness. Its like: Dont embarrass yourself. You were part of something special, says a longtime Obama adviser. I think if [Obama] were to send an all-staff e-mail, it would be along the lines of Ron BurgundyStay classy, San Diego.
But of course, these protocols are often violated in practice. One assumes that as long as one isnt too flagrant about it, no real harm done, right? Scheiber uses major Obama fundraiser, former UBS chairman Richard Wolf as an example. Wolf never held an Administration post, so he cant necessarily be expected to hew tightly to the unwritten code. But one of the no-nos is trading, or being perceived to trade, on ones connection to Obama. Wolf has staffed his consulting firm 32 Advisors with Obama luminaries such as Austan Goolsbee and important insiders like Kevin Varney, the former chief of staff of Ex-Im Bank. Wolf maintains that Obama would never lift a finger to help him while also saying the President is supportive and playing up official relationationships in his website and marketing materials.