Obama Broken Pledge of the Day, Earmarks: Bonus, Kathleen Sebelius Attacked Palin as Washington Insider Over Issue

Its a cliche to say Obama's pledges have an expiration date, but this is a whopper. Earmarks are the primary vehicle of rewarding lobbyists and special interest groups, as well creating pork-barrel projects that primarily get house members elected at tax payer expense.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will break a campaign pledge against congressional earmarks and sign a budget bill laden with millions in lawmakers' pet projects, administration officials said.

Administration budget chief Peter Orszag and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel both downplayed the $410 billion spending bill and signaled Obama would hold his nose and sign it.

Orszag said: "We want to just move on. Let's get this bill done, get it into law and move forward."Said Emanuel: "That's last year's business."The House last week passed the measure that would keep the government running through Sept. 30, when the federal budget year ends. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, identified almost 8,600 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion; Democrats say the number is $3.8 billion.Either way, it is far more than Obama promised as a candidate. He refused earmarks for the economic stimulus package he championed and a children's health bill.He similarly pledged to reject tailored budget requests that let lawmakers send money to their home states. Orszag said Obama would move ahead and overlook the time-tested tradition that lets officials divert millions at a time to pet projects.

Of course they blame Bush for this, as if the Democrats didn't control Congress for the last two years. In other cheerful news did you know that energy costs are too cheap?

Emanuel said energy costs are too low, anyway. U.S. car companies relied too long on gas-guzzling autos and failed to invest in alternative energy vehicles, he said. The time for new auto fuels is now, he contended.

"They never invested in both alternative energy cars. They got dependent on big gas guzzlers. ...They have a health care cost structure that's outdated," Emanuel said, repeating the administration's premise that health costs must come under control or else risk breaking all other pieces of the budget.

From the people who screamed about the price of gas as a plot by the oil companies. By the way what are some of these earmarks, from Time Magazine:

Still, Ellis and other observers argue that the fiscal-2009 budget's level of earmarking is too high and that projects such as $1.8 million for swine odor and manure management in Iowa, $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Wyoming, $400,000 to combat bullying in Montana and $2.2 million to study grape genetics in New York are easily ridiculed and embarrassing. And they show the risk of one-party control of both the executive and legislative branches of government — which was amply demonstrated by George W. Bush and congressional Republicans.

Obama, the Democrats, and the special interests are laughing at how easy its to get away with things. Never forget the Obama rule, if he is attacking a practice that means he is doing it.

Added Bonus:

In the vacuum of details from the McCain campaign, Obama and his spokesmen and surrogates have rushed in, trying to prevent the reformist label from sticking to the McCain-Palin ticket.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), a prominent Obama ally, questioned Palin's stated goal of battling earmarks when as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she hired a Washington lobbyist to secure millions of federal dollars for pet projects."I don't know any mayor in small towns in Kansas that hires a lobbyist and goes after earmarks," Sebelius said. "That isn't a reform strategy. That's an inside-Washington strategy."Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that would be only an opening salvo."If your case that you're a reformer is based on a complete fabrication, we're going to make sure the American people know the truth," he said. Weaver said McCain should start adding meat to the reformer bone and remind voters of his efforts to push special interest money out of campaigns. Obama's decision to opt out of public campaign financing gave McCain an avenue to draw sharper distinctions over campaign finance reform, Weaver said, yet he has not taken it.

American people and knowing the truth, we do now.