Cronyism in the Obama White House

last updated 8 January 2015

Top Democratic donors received VIP access to the White House during President Obama's first six months in office, according to a Washington Times investigation. Some particularly prolific financial backers have received ambassadorships. Do Obama's supporters get special perks, or does every White House do this? (Watch Robert Gibbs defend Democratic perks at a press briefing)

Every White House does this: "The White House has always been for sale to the highest bidders," says Earl Ofari Hutchinson in American Chronicle. Everyone knows President Obama's predecessor "nakedly waved the White House for sale sign to corporate cronies." It's distasteful, but the reality is that "politics is a hard, dirty, cash soaked game, and those with the most cash will always have the president´s ear, no matter the president."

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All presidents promise to end donor perks: "It's a requirement that any candidate for the presidency vow to banish the wicked special interests in Washington, D.C.," says Jacob Heilbrunn in The Huffington Post. And it's a ritual for the media to pounce and show that the new president "is slipping into nefarious old Washington practices." Now poor White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has to offer "contorted defenses," instead of just telling the truth: "handing out a few perks to donors is really no big deal."

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