No lobbyists in my administration will work on anything they lobbied for - what about Leon Panetta

Another of President Obama's top nominees is running afoul of the president's lobbyist rule.

Let's review Obama's ethics rules he installed his first day in office:

"The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history. If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president."

We've already seen some sliding on this position regarding William Lynn, who Obama wanted as an Undersecretary of Defense.

The latest round of letting a former lobbyist slide is Leon Panetta, the White House's nominee for Director of Central Intelligence. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Panetta earned $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees since the beginning of 2008. Some of the companies that paid Panetta are troubled banks and companies that deal with national security. So, if we're to take President Obama at his word, then Panetta, if hired, will not be able to work on national security issues. So that leaves what kind of role for the DCI?

This either indicates that Obama is ignoring his own rules, which means he is playing the populace for suckers, or he hasn't properly vetted his appointees. This latest black eye on the administration's appointments comes on the tail of two appointees having to bow out of the top level positions because they failed to pay their income taxes - which according to the logic of Vice President Joe Biden, means these folks are not patriotic.

So, is loading the top positions in Washington D.C. with lobbyists and unpatriotic tax cheats the kind of change the Obama administration is going to bring?